Volunteers in China have been eating mealworms for over a 100 days in a sealed lab in Beijing to test the possibility of using the protein rich insects as food for astronauts.
According to the report on the BBC website, the volunteers were allowed to spice up the food with bean sauce and other seasoning to make their meals as appetising as possible. There has been talk of using the insects as a protein source for a while, we reported on the idea ourselves twice back in 2012 (Bugs a la carte, Mealworm nuggets anyone?).
The main objection to using them for astronauts was that it may demoralise them but in this case they seemed to adapt well. The mealworms were fed on plant waste contained within the enclosed lab.
Let’s see what the future holds, here on the ground I would expect there is more chance to see insect protein sneaked into our food in the form of flour as opposed to eating whole insects, or fed to our cattle which was another idea we reported on back in 2013.