As mealworm farming scales for human and animal food markets, slaughter method welfare implications become increasingly significant. Evidence-based approaches are emerging.
Insect slaughter welfare sits at the frontier of applied welfare science where the scale of production demands precautionary thinking even in the absence of definitive consciousness evidence. If mealworms have morally relevant experiences, their slaughter in billions represents one of the largest welfare concerns in modern food production. Developing welfare-positive slaughter methods now, before the industry scales further, is more efficient than retrofitting standards to an established system. The food technology community has both the capacity and the responsibility to lead on this.