Over 1200 species of insects are used as food by people throughout the world. Commonly eaten insects and arachnids include grasshoppers, crickets, termites, ants, beetle larvae (grubs), moth caterpillars and pupae, spiders, tarantulas, and scorpions.
The consumption of Hormiga culona (literally “fatass ant”) Atta laevigata is traditional in Colombia; they are served at movie theaters in addition to popcorn. In some places the commercial exploitation of food insects has led to their decline
Insects generally have a higher food conversion efficiency than more traditional meats. For example, studies concerning the house cricket (Acheta domesticus), when reared at 30°C or more and fed a diet of equal quality to the diet used to rear conventional livestock, show a food conversion twice as efficient as pigs and broiler chicks, four times that of sheep, and six times higher than steers when losses in carcass trim and dressing percentage are counted.
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