Insects as mini-livestock: Considering insect welfare in feed production

Insect farming for animal feed production is considered a promising alternative to the traditional feed manufacturing sector, because of its low ecological footprint and circular use of required resources. However, treating insects as mini-livestock is accompanied by various questions on the suitable rearing conditions needed to achieve high-quality products, while considering insect welfare. Although there are concepts which have long served as a compass for animal welfare regulations, these have been under increasing criticism. Also, they have been drawn up for vertebrate animals and are, therefore, not entirely applicable to insects. We hold that the development of commonly accepted methods for keeping insects as mini-livestock demands deep knowledge on insect biology and a dynamic discussion on insect welfare. We plead for an evaluation of the relevant ethical and empirical aspects of insect rearing conditions and for establishing welfare criteria based on these evaluations. By addressing several questions and uncertainties from an interdisciplinary perspective of entomology, animal ethics and philosophy of mind, we argue that taking into account current knowledge on insect biology could aid in the emergence of a novel, well-informed and integrated perspective on insect welfare. Ultimately, our goal is to trace the necessary biological factors for designing implementable and appropriate insect rearing conditions, in order to avoid ethical mistakes that have historically been made in animal production systems.