Insects: Meat of the Future

Overview

Raising livestock causes environmental challenges due to production of greenhouse gasses, need of space, and high cost. Insects, on the other hand, hardly produce greenhouse gasses, need little space, and have a low cost. The purpose of this project is to determine if edible insects can provide sufficient protein for human nutrition. Raised mealworms, beetles, and crickets were tested for protein via the salting out method and spectrophotometry. Lipids were extracted using chloroform. The data provides strong support for the hypothesis; beetles, mealworms, and crickets were shown to have a more abundant source of protein and fats when compared to regularly consumed meats of beef and pork.

Awards (1)

• University of Texas at Dallas: Back-up scholarship recipients

Competition history

• ISEF 2023 Chemistry · Entry CHEM035 · Dallas, Texas, United States

Resources

• ISEF abstract page ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.