Insect farming for food and animal feed is growing rapidly as a sustainable protein source, but raises welfare questions about the capacity of insects to experience pain and the conditions of mass rearing and killing.
Insect farming welfare operates under significant scientific uncertainty about insect capacity for pain and negative experience. The precautionary principle suggests adopting more humane rearing and killing methods even without certainty about insect sentience. Chilling before killing is considered more welfare-positive than boiling alive if insects have any pain capacity. Housing conditions that allow natural behaviors and prevent overcrowding-induced stress represent welfare improvements that are low-cost to implement. The massive scale of insect farming means even small improvements in killing methods could affect enormous numbers of individuals.