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Article

Mealworms for Food: A Water Footprint Perspective

by
Pier Paolo Miglietta
,
Federica De Leo
*,†,
Marcello Ruberti
and
Stefania Massari
Department of Management, Economics, Mathematics and Statistics, University of Salento, via per Monteroni, Lecce 73100, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Water 2015, 7(11), 6190-6203; https://doi.org/10.3390/w7116190
Submission received: 6 August 2015 / Revised: 26 October 2015 / Accepted: 3 November 2015 / Published: 6 November 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Water Consumption)

Abstract

In this paper, we have explored the possibility of substituting traditional meat products with an alternative source of protein (insects) in order to reduce human pressure on water. Insects, in fact, could represent a good alternative source of quality proteins and nutrients and they are already a very popular component of the diet of one third of the world’s population in approximately 80% of countries. In the study, we have taken into account only two species of edible insects (Tenebrio molitor and Zophobas morio mealworms), because they are already commercially produced even in Western countries, and for this reason it is possible to find specific data in literature about their diets. We have used the water footprint (WF) as a reliable indicator to calculate the volume of water required for production and to compare different products. The final aim of the work is, in fact, to evaluate the WF of the production of edible insects with a focus on water consumption associated with protein content, in order to make a comparison with other animal protein sources. We have demonstrated that, from a freshwater resource perspective, it is more efficient to obtain protein through mealworms rather than other traditional farmed animals.
Keywords: livestock; insects; mealworms; food; freshwater; water footprint livestock; insects; mealworms; food; freshwater; water footprint

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Miglietta, P.P.; De Leo, F.; Ruberti, M.; Massari, S. Mealworms for Food: A Water Footprint Perspective. Water 2015, 7, 6190-6203. https://doi.org/10.3390/w7116190

AMA Style

Miglietta PP, De Leo F, Ruberti M, Massari S. Mealworms for Food: A Water Footprint Perspective. Water. 2015; 7(11):6190-6203. https://doi.org/10.3390/w7116190

Chicago/Turabian Style

Miglietta, Pier Paolo, Federica De Leo, Marcello Ruberti, and Stefania Massari. 2015. "Mealworms for Food: A Water Footprint Perspective" Water 7, no. 11: 6190-6203. https://doi.org/10.3390/w7116190

APA Style

Miglietta, P. P., De Leo, F., Ruberti, M., & Massari, S. (2015). Mealworms for Food: A Water Footprint Perspective. Water, 7(11), 6190-6203. https://doi.org/10.3390/w7116190

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