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Knowledge gaps in feeding physiology, microbiome and behavior of insects for food and feed: overcoming barriers to advancing insect rearing through interdisciplinarity, standardization, and emerging technologies

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Jordan CuffORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

The mass rearing of insects for food and feed has emerged as a promising solution to food insecurity, protein production and waste valorization. While outcomes such as growth and feed conversion efficiency have been examined for mass reared insects, the mechanisms underpinning these outcomes are poorly understood. To optimize the rearing of insects for food and feed and build toward efficient, scalable and productive systems, we must first therefore understand the mechanisms driving productivity and efficiency in common target species. By integrating emerging technologies across disciplines, we can begin to characterize these mechanisms to guide the optimization of robust and standardized systems for efficient and scalable food and feed production. In this article, we explore opportunities for integrated and interdisciplinary thinking, and use of emerging technologies to characterize the feeding physiology, digestive processes, microbiome-driven nutritional effects and behavioral regulation of insects commonly used for food and feed. We identify areas of synergy and interaction across research domains and provide a roadmap and call to action to catalyze uptake of these ideas across research and practice. By realizing interdisciplinary integration and implementation of emerging technologies, we believe that an urgently required deeper mechanistic understanding of feeding-related processes is possible. This can, in turn, enable precision nutrition, improve system robustness and ensure consistent product quality.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Bruno D, Cuff JP, Adamaki-Sotiraki C, Ameixa O, Athanassiou CG, Boukrouh S, Castellanos F, Gebiola M, Guillaume JB, Ibikunle O, Klammsteiner T, Oonincx D, Savio C, Sibinga NA, Tettamanti G, Opatovsky I

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Insects as Food and Feed

Year: 2026

Volume: 12

Issue: 7

Pages: 1137-1147

Online publication date: 10/04/2026

Acceptance date: 10/04/2026

Date deposited: 17/04/2026

ISSN (electronic): 2352-4588

Publisher: Wageningen Academic

URL: https://doi.org/10.1163/23524588-20260004

DOI: 10.1163/23524588-20260004

ePrints DOI: 10.57711/h1yh-e517

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