Challenges in farmed insect welfare: Beyond the question of sentience

The global Insects as Food and Feed (IAFF) industry currently farms over a trillion individual insects a year and is growing rapidly. Intensive animal production systems are known to cause a range of negative affective states in livestock; given the potential scale of the IAFF industry, it is urgent to consider the welfare of the industry's insect livestock. The majority of the literature on farmed insect welfare has focused on: (i) establishing that insect welfare ought to be of concern; or (ii) extending vertebrate welfare frameworks to insects. However, there are many overlooked challenges to studying insect welfare and applying that knowledge in IAFF industry contexts. Here, we briefly review five of these challenges. We end with practical recommendations for the future study of insect welfare.

Automated summary

The global IAFF industry farms over a trillion individual insects per year and is rapidly growing. Considering the potential scale of the industry, it is urgent to address the welfare of the industry's insect livestock. The existing literature on farmed insect welfare has mainly focused on the significance of insect welfare and adapting vertebrate welfare frameworks to insects. However, there are several overlooked challenges in studying and applying knowledge of insect welfare in the IAFF industry. This article briefly reviews five of these challenges and provides practical recommendations for future research on insect welfare.