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6
Unconventional Foods: Insects,
Plankton, Fungi, and In Vitro Meat
6.1 Introduction
There are three unusual, yet nutritious, invertebrate food sources for humans
and their farm animals that can contribute to future human sustainability if
they are produced on an industrial level. These include insects, fungi, and
plankton. Another unconventional, synthetic food source is from the tissue
culture of vertebrate muscle stem cells.
The rst source to be described is insects. Some insect species are easily
raised industrially and have high food value. This “minilivestock” supplies
all the basic nutrients of meats and whole grains. Insects are v