The Sun
MAGGOTS should replace meat at mealtimes to help solve world hunger, according to grub experts.
The future of the human race will depend on new types of cuisine, including fly larvae, researchers believe.
Although traditionally vomit-inducing, maggots will be needed as mass-produced meat and veg come under threat, they say.
Dr Asaf Tzachor, of Cambridge University’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, warned: “Our current food system is vulnerable.
“It’s exposed to a litany of risks — floods and frosts, droughts and dry spells, pathogens and parasites. To future-proof our food supply we need to integrate completely new ways of farming into the current system.”
Insect-breeding greenhouses reduce exposure to the hazards of the natural environment, he said. They can also reduce reliance on global supply chains because they can be mass- produced almost anywhere.
Fungus and seaweed could also become more popular.
Dr Tzachor went on: “Foods like sugar kelp, flies, mealworm and single-celled algae have the potential to provide healthy, risk- resilient diets that can address malnutrition around the world.”
These so-called future foods were nutritious and more sustainable alternatives to plant and animal-based diets, he told Nature Food.
The Covid pandemic is the latest threat to global supply chains, along with droughts in the US and swarms of desert locusts in Africa.
