MINI REVIEW article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Sustainable Diets
This article is part of the Research TopicTropical Entomophagy for Human NutritionView all 5 articles
Entomophagy in Latin America and its potential for sustainability and food security
Provisionally accepted
Reyna Ivonne Torres-Acosta1Gilberto Ruiz-De La Cruz1Sugey Ramona Sinagawa-García2Antonia Hernández-Trejo1Carlos Hurtado-Noriega3
Gabriel Gorrín-Armas4Maribel Mendoza-Alatorre5Josselyn Paulina Pico-Poma6
María Cruz Juárez-Aragón1
Edward Alexander Espinoza Sánchez5Héctor Jaime Gasca-Álvarez7Brenda Julián-Chávez5Diego Abelardo Sarabia-Guevara6Jorge Ariel Torres-Castillo1Eleazar Benitez Martinez1
Luis Daniel García-García8*- 1Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas, Ciudad Victoria, Mexico
- 2Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon Facultad de Agronomia, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico
- 3Universidad Cientifica del Sur, Miraflores, Peru
- 4Centro de Estudios Parasitologicos y de Vectores, La Plata, Argentina
- 5Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua Facultad de Ciencias Quimicas, Chihuahua, Mexico
- 6Universidad Estatal Amazonica, Puyo, Ecuador
- 7Universidad Pedagogica y Tecnologica de Colombia - Sede Bogota, Bogotá, Colombia
- 8Tecnologico Nacional de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
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Entomophagy is often considered as an alternative and complementary practice in human food security. Recently, the exploration of edible insects has taken an increased focus on traditional practices, thus highlighting the importance of inherent folklore in the search of protein-rich food alternatives and their biofunctional properties. The present work summarizes edible insect species in Latin America, some of which are well known and commercialized species. However, most of these Latin-American species are directly extracted from the ecosystem, thereby entailing a complex interaction between sociocultural practices, biodiversity, and food requirements. Latin America possesses an extensive culture concerning the use and consumption of insect species. Therefore, previous experience regarding the mass production and commercialization of said species, along with their utilization as sustenance, constitute a sound reference frame in the exploration of wild or less consumed species, thence improving food security resources.
Keywords: Anthropoentomophagy, bioculture, Biofunctional, nutrition, sustainability
Received: 29 Dec 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Torres-Acosta, Ruiz-De La Cruz, Sinagawa-García, Hernández-Trejo, Hurtado-Noriega, Gorrín-Armas, Mendoza-Alatorre, Pico-Poma, Cruz Juárez-Aragón, Espinoza Sánchez, Gasca-Álvarez, Julián-Chávez, Sarabia-Guevara, Torres-Castillo, Benitez Martinez and García-García. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Luis Daniel García-García
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