I follow the industry somewhat closely.. .. a lot of focus is on getting approved the use of insects for animal feed right now. I post what I come across (that's worth posting anyway) to /r/livestock relating to it... .../r/insects too.

...and, since /r/BlackSoldierFly is relatively small, I feel I can get away posting about it there as well simply because what happens with one insect increases the likelihood that it will apply or ease-application-for BSF once things progress and/or once a push is made to get them, specifically, approved for feed as well.

Zooming out from there for human consumption... ...well, 1) I'd imagine humans can eat whatever they feel like putting in their mouths 2) insects (or at least various 'parts' of insects) are used in the food industry quite often already C) there's already a nice growing insects-for-food movement that's been growing.

I was just meeting with a friend yesterday to give him some supplies I had in my basement to help him expand his cricket farm he has going on down there... ....he isn't selling yet but he has a decent section of his basement sectioned off with shelves and is growing cricket meal... ....he steam processes it to kill the crickets then stores them in his freezer.

Some he plans on selling full-sized, others he's going to (and already has in some cases) processed into meal and... ...eats himself.. ...as well, has intentions of selling once he has a quantity of it.

I've worked with a smaller farm on building BSF bins (as per my suggestion to them... ) and though we're still tweaking the ratio of manure to other waste biomass... ...and working on sourcing waste produce to keep them fed... ... the current forms are enough to keep the BSF going... ....as we get around to getting the time to mess with it.

but, as is, the BSFL that've been produced from it... ....the cows eat them, their chickens eat them... as well their other birds (they have a fairly decent size of 'game birds' ... turkeys, guinea, ducks, etc just for kicks) .... their goats and pigs as well. There isn't a lot to go around but where it's been spread around the animals are 'all about it'.

You should check out some youtube videos on BSF... ..chickens literally go apeshit for them. like, they freakin' love them. Think a dog goes wack over some sort of snacky-treat or table scrap... you haven't seen a chicken relative to BSFL (black soldier fly larvae). It's actually quite commical.

Hopefully things are a bit more progressive under the Trudeau administration. I was never too impressed with Steven Harper... ...and his administration seemed just a bit too tied into the 'old ways of doing things' to really seem to want to make insects a priority.

This is understandable because the disruption to established feed channels actually stands the potential to be quite pronounced. Waste can be drastically reduced... ...as can feed costs... ...and overall health to the animal can be increased as well.. ...so, in a lot of ways, a livestock system can become a good deal healthier and more sustainable... and its environmental footprint greatly reduced. But... that's politics...

Europe though... is being the most progressive with it in many ways (from a 'western' food standards perspective anyway) and, as such, a lot of what they get in place will likely be referenced and copied in N.America codes. But, the future of it seems HUGE.