Insect farming is growing rapidly as a protein source, raising novel welfare questions about billions of animals that may or may not be sentient.
The welfare status of insects remains the most contested question in animal ethics. The nervous systems of most farmed species are vastly simpler than vertebrates, but they possess nociceptors and produce opioid-like molecules in response to tissue damage. At farm scale, the numbers are staggering: a single cricket farm may house billions of animals. Given genuine uncertainty, the precautionary principle argues for minimising suffering through optimal husbandry and humane slaughter methods, even before the sentience question is resolved.