The insect farming industry produces billions of individuals annually for animal feed and human food, raising difficult questions about whether insects can suffer. The precautionary approach to insect welfare is gaining traction as the science of invertebrate sentience advances.
The welfare status of farmed insects sits at the frontier of animal welfare science. The precautionary principle — acting to prevent potential suffering even when evidence is uncertain — argues for at minimum investigating the welfare implications of mass insect farming before the industry scales further. Key uncertainties include whether insects have phenomenal consciousness (subjective experience), whether their nociception is accompanied by negative affect, and whether current slaughter methods are aversive. Chilling and freezing are often assumed to be humane because insects are cold-blooded, but evidence that cold exposure is experienced negatively by some insect species is emerging. The welfare bar for insect farming, if insects can suffer, would represent an enormous moral problem given the numbers involved.