UN - EAT BUGS! We Haven't Got Enough Food For All Of You!
----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: EL CHICO CUANTICO
Date: 28/02/2008
----------------- Bulletin Message ----------------- From: Eddie Date: 28 Feb 2008, 16:40
Hmmm-mmm !
.. UN can no longer afford to feed those in need...
.. Wheat shortage and buying frenzy in US... are we ready to eat some bugs?
******************************************************************************** UN conference promotes insect eating for everyone from famine victims to astronauts ********************************************************************************
CHIANG MAI, Thailand: Crickets, caterpillars and grubs are high in protein and minerals and could be an important food source during droughts and other emergencies, according to scientists.
"I definitely think they can assist," said German biologist V.B. Meyer-Rochow, who regularly eats insects and wore a T-shirt with a Harlequin longhorn beetle to a U.N.-sponsored conference this month on promoting bugs as a food source.
Three dozen scientists from 15 countries gathered in this northern Thailand city, home to several dozen restaurants serving insects and other bugs. Some of their proposals were more down to earth than others.
A Japanese scientist proposed bug farms on spacecraft to feed astronauts, noting that it would be more practical than raising cows or pigs. Australian, Dutch and American researchers said more restaurants are serving the critters in their countries.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates 1,400 species of insects and worms are eaten in almost 90 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Researchers at the conference detailed how crickets and silk worms are eaten in Thailand, grubs and grasshoppers in Africa and ants in South America.
"In certain places with certain cultures with a certain level of acceptance, then insects can very well be seen as part of the solution" to hunger, said Patrick Durst, a Bangkok-based senior forestry officer at the FAO.
The challenge, experts said, is organizing unregulated, small bug food operations in many countries so they can supplement the food that aid agencies provide. The infrastructure to raise, transport and market bugs is almost nonexistent in most countries.
Prof. Arnold van Huis, a tropical entomologist known as "Mr. Edible Insect" in his native Netherlands, blamed a Western bias against eating insects for the failure of aid agencies to incorporate bugs into their mix.
"They are completely biased," van Huis said. "They really have to change. I would urge other donor organizations to take a different attitude toward this ... It's excellent food. It can be sustainable with precautions."
There are questions about the safety of eating bugs and potential dangers from over-harvesting them, said Durst, who became interested in the practice known scientifically as entomophagy during his years working in Bangkok, where crickets and bamboo worms are sold as food by street vendors.
Tina van den Briel, senior nutritionist at the World Food Program, the U.N. agency that provides food in emergencies, expressed doubt that insects can benefit large, vulnerable populations. Most bugs are seasonal and have a short shelf life, she said.
"They can be a very good complement to the diet," said van den Briel, not a conference participant. "But they do not lend themselves to programs like ours where you transport food over long distances and where you have to store food for a few months."
She suggested a more practical benefit might be adding insects to animal feed or crushing them into a meal powder that could be used to make cookies or cakes.
Meyer-Rochow said aid agencies might even find a way to harvest crop-destroying swarms of locusts and crickets.
"These mass outbreaks could be a valuable food source," he said. "If the technology is available, they could be ground up like a paste and added to the food humans eat."
******************************************************** Eat insects to beat world hunger, UN scientists say ********************************************************
Larvae, crickets and worms are rich in proteins and minerals that are essential to the human body; experts advise eating bugs during drought and other crises.
Chiang Mai (AsiaNews/Agencies) – “I definitely think they can assist,” said German biologist V.B. Meyer-Rochow, who regularly eats insects and wore a T-shirt with a harlequin longhorn beetle to an UN-sponsored workshop this month on promoting bugs as a food source. Almost 40 scientists from 15 countries gathered in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, home to several dozen restaurants serving insects and other bugs.
Some of their proposals are really odd, literally out of this world. A Japanese scientist in fact proposed setting up bug farms on spacecrafts to feed astronauts, noting that it would be more practical than raising cows or pigs. Irreproachable as far as scientific solutions go.
According to estimates by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, some 1,400 species of insects and worms are eaten in almost 90 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
“In certain places with certain cultures with a certain level of acceptance, insects can very well be seen as part of the solution” to hunger, said Patrick Durst, a senior forestry officer at the FAO in Bangkok.
Insects in many countries could serve as supplement to the food that aid agencies already provide. Transportation infrastructures could be improved elsewhere. But the main problem against acceptance is cultural since in many places the small invertebrates are not very appetising.
Despite the great enthusiasm surrounding the rediscovery of bugs as a food supplement, Tina van den Briel, senior nutritionist at the World Food Programme, the UN agency that provides food in emergencies, expressed doubt that they could benefit large, vulnerable populations. Most bugs are seasonal and have a short shelf life, she said.
Scepticism and doubts aside, quite a few scientists believe that larvae, crickets and worms have great potential and that they are “really good”. Remember: If you trust before you try, you may repent before you die.
************************************* UN warns over food aid rationing *************************************
BBC News 25 February 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7262830.stm
The director of the UN's World Food Programme has said it is considering plans to ration food aid because of rising prices and a shortage of funds. Josette Sheeran told the BBC that the WFP needed increased contributions from donors to make sure it could meet the needs of those who already rely on it.
She said it also faced growing demands from countries like Afghanistan, where people were now unable to afford food.
Food prices rose 40% last year because of rising demand and other factors.
Earlier this month, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the rising price of cereals such as wheat and maize had become a "major global concern".
The FAO estimated poor countries would see their cereal import bill rise by more than a third this year. Africa as a whole is expected to see a 49% increase.
The organisation has called for urgent action to provide farmers in poor countries with improved access to seeds and fertiliser to increase crop production.
'Growing needs'
In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Ms Sheeran said the WFP was holding talks with experts to decide whether food aid would need to be stopped or rationed if new donations did not arrive at the agency in the short term.
The former US undersecretary of state said she hoped the cuts could be avoided, but warned that the agency's budget requirements were rising by several millions of dollars a week because of the higher food prices.
"If food is twice as expensive, we can bring half as much in for the same price and the same contribution," she said.
"It will take increased contributions to make sure we can meet those already assessed needs."
Ms Sheeran said there was an urgent need for the funding shortage to be addressed because "in many places, we are the only source of food for some people".
"We're also seeing some new growing needs in some places like Afghanistan, where people are being thrown into food insecurity just simply due to the higher food prices."
She said those who had been hardest hit so far were people in developing countries who were living on 50 US cents (£0.25) a day, 80-90% of which was already being spent on food.
"In some of these developing countries, prices have gone up 80% for staple food," she added. "When you see those kinds of increases, they are simply priced out of the food markets."
Even middle-class, urban people in countries such as Indonesia, Yemen and Mexico were increasingly being priced out of the food market or forced to sacrifice education and healthcare, she warned.
Ms Sheeran said Egypt had just widened its food rationing system after two decades and Pakistan had reintroduced ration cards after many years.
China and Russia were meanwhile imposing price controls, while Argentina and Vietnam were enforcing foreign sales taxes or export bans, she said.
The WFP's ability to mitigate the impact of rising food prices has also been hampered by a significant decrease in the past five years of supplies of "in-kind food aid" - food produced abroad and delivered to vulnerable people in emergencies.
In-kind food aid peaked in 2000, when there were large surpluses and low prices for cereals.
The US, the world's largest donor of food aid, has since reduced its surplus and instead chosen to provide funding to international agencies.
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