incorporate a juvenile hormone into the feeding process to keep the mealworm in the larval stage and achieve an abnormal length of 2 cm or greater. As food Mealworms are edible for humans, and processed into several insect food items available in food retail such as insect burgers. Mealworms have historically been consumed in many Asian countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. There, they are commonly found in food markets and sold as street food alongside other edible insects. Baked or fried mealworms have been marketed as a healthy snack food in recent history, though the consumption of mealworms goes back centuries. In May 2017, mealworms were approved as food in Switzerland. In June 2021, dried mealworms were authorized as novel food in the European Union, after the European Food Safety Authority assessed the larvae as safe for human consumption. Mealworm larvae contain significant nutrient content. For every 100 grams of raw mealworm larvae, 206 kilocalories and anywhere from 14 to 25 grams of protein are contained. Mealworm larvae contain levels of potassium, copper, sodium, selenium, iron and zinc that rival that of beef. Mealworms contain essential linoleic acids as well. They also have greater vitamin content by weight compared to beef, B12 not included. Mealworms may be easily reared on fresh oats, wheat bran or grain, with sliced potato, carrots, or apple as a moisture source. The small amount of space required to raise mealworms has made them relevant for scalable industrialized mass production. In waste disposal In 2015, it was discovered that mealworms can degrade polystyrene into usable organic matter at a rate of about 34–39 milligrams per day. Additionally, no difference was found between mealworms fed only Styrofoam and the mealworms fed conventional foods, during the one-month duration of the experiment. Microorganisms inside the mealworm's gut are responsible for degrading the polystyrene, with mealworms given the antibiotic gentamicin showing no signs of degradation. Isolated colonies of the mealworm's gut microbes, however, have proven less efficient at degradation than the bacteria within the gut. See also Zond 5, a 1968 space mission on which mealworms were among the first terrestrial organisms to travel to and circle the Moon Organisms breaking down plastic Gallery References External links Darkling Beetle/Mealworm Information. Center for Insect Science Education Outreach. University of Arizona. Mealworms and Darkling Beetles (Tenebrio beetle). FOSSweb. How to Raise Mealworms How to Care for Mealworms Tenebrionidae Beetles described in 1758