The most widely consumed insects

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, there are currently more than 2000 edible insects consumed worldwide. Some insects are more popular than others. Our JIMINI’S experts have investigated for you:

BEETLES, WORLD CHAMPIONS

You all know the mealworms, called “molitors”, on the Jimini’s website. They belong to the large family of beetles. As they grow, they will become a kind of small beetle. This family of beetles is the most widely consumed on Earth, accounting for 31% of all edible insects. Mainly consumed at the larval stage, such as the Molitor beetle or the palm worm, beetles are therefore the great champions of entomophagy.

LEPIDOPTERA ON THE SECOND STEP

You must know a lepidoptera! No ? Don’t you see? Do you know the silkworm? Of course, it is also known as the Bombyx of the mulberry tree, whose leaves it particularly loves. It is the only insect domesticated by man for the production of silk, but it is also particularly consumed in Asia. Lepidoptera account for 18% of the insects consumed on the planet. Not bad, eh?

HYMENOPTERA, IT STINGS, BUT IT’S GOOD!

Third in our ranking with 14%, Hymenoptera, whose best representatives are ants, bees and wasps, are particularly consumed in Latin America, but also in Asia. In France, bee and wasp larvae have been traditionally consumed for a long time.

ORTHOPTERANS, ONE PERCENT OF THE PODIUM

They are beautiful, they jump (very) far, they sometimes even fly hundreds of kilometres… Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the locusts, grasshoppers and other crickets as the fourth most important insects in our ranking with 13% of the insects eaten! They can be found everywhere, from Mexico to Thailand, including most of sub-Saharan Africa!

HEMIPTERANS SEE RED

Well, despite their 10%, hemipterans have an important advantage! It is undoubtedly one of the most consciously consumed insects in the West: the cochineal, which gives its red colour to the dye E120! You’ve probably already eaten them, they’re everywhere: in sweets, sausages, drinks… In short, long live the hemipterans!

AND JIMINI’S IN ALL THIS?

So the question you must certainly ask yourself is why we only offer 3 edible insects on our super website, if there are more than 2000 of them? Well, it’s a deliberate choice that we have made: to manufacture our products exclusively from insects that are bred in Europe, whose quality can be checked with complete confidence, and which are not taken from the natural environment. Now you know everything!