Arnold van Huis (born 1946,

Wormerveer Wormerveer is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 13 km northwest of Amsterdam. Wormerveer developed in the 15th century on the west bank of the Zaan river. It started ...

, North Holland,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) is a Professor of Tropical

Entomology Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Wageningen University Wageningen University & Research (also known as Wageningen UR; abbreviation: WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally ...

in the

Biography

Van Huis studied as an undergraduate at the State Horticultural College in Utrecht, and as a graduate student at Wageningen University. From 1974 to 1979, he worked for the

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

(FAO) in Nicaragua. In 2014, van Huis co-authored ''The Insect Cookbook: Food for a Sustainable Planet (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)''.

Work and positions

Van Huis researches

edible insects Insects as food or edible insects are insect species used for human consumption. More than 2,000 insects species worldwide are considered edible. However, a much smaller number is discussed for industrialized mass production and partly regiona ...

and advocates human entomophagy, the consumption of insects by humans, and coordinates the research program ''Sustainable production of Insect Proteins for human consumption'' (SUPRO2). The program investigates the

nutritive Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient ...

and

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

aspects of insect farming and consumption, e.g. of weaver ants. In the 2010 French documentary '' Global Steak'', he says that

locust Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumst ...

s can produce 1 kg

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respon ...

from 2 kg

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (including ...

compared to a cow needing 10 kg fodder to produce the same amount of protein. Other benefits are that locusts do not produce

greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), met ...

es and do not need

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention ...

References

External links

Arnold van Huis
at Wageningen University 1946 births Living people Dutch entomologists Insects as food Wageningen University and Research alumni Wageningen University and Research faculty People from Zaanstad {{entomologist-stub