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by DanI-S 3778 days ago
I guess I'd summarize the feed conversion part as follows:

- Crickets are slightly better than poultry at converting poultry feed into protein.

- Crickets are great at converting processed grocery store waste into protein; poultry can't do this at all.

- Both species are awful at converting low quality food waste (a mix of chicken poop and straw) into protein.

- The efficient feed conversion of modern poultry comes only after years of research, development and breeding; the efficient feed conversion of insects comes "out of the box" and will only improve over time.
2 comments
GordonS 3778 days ago
> Both species are awful at converting low quality food waste (a mix of chicken poop and straw) into protein

Wait - what? Do farmers really try to feed their chickens with chicken shit?!

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wodenokoto 3778 days ago
That's pretty much how we got Mad Cow Disease [1]

    A British and Irish inquiry into BSE concluded the 
    epizootic was caused by cattle, which are normally 
    herbivores, being fed the remains of other cattle 
    in the form of meat and bone meal (MBM), which 
    caused the infectious agent to spread
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopat...
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bduerst 3776 days ago
They were giving the cows feed that was salted with protein sourced from ground up sheep, of which there were trace amounts of neurological tissue containing the prions.

It's not unusual for farmers to add amino acids as a supplement to feed. It's one of the targets for high-nitrogen (amino acid) GM corn.

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simonebrunozzi 3778 days ago
Vegetarian protein is also way more efficient than any animal-based protein. Why do we need crickets then? (honestly curious, no criticism)
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