As mealworm farming scales up for food and feed, questions about appropriate housing, density and husbandry are becoming pressing. What welfare standards make sense under uncertainty about sentience?
Mealworm housing welfare sits in the same uncertain territory as other insect welfare - we know enough to recognise potential welfare risks but not enough to define optimal standards with confidence. The cannibalism observed at excessive densities suggests that mealworms can be harmed by conspecifics and that housing design matters for their outcomes. Whether these are welfare harms in a morally significant sense depends on unresolved questions about mealworm sentience. The precautionary approach suggests applying minimum standards - appropriate density to prevent cannibalism, temperature and humidity management, rapid killing methods - while supporting the research needed to resolve current uncertainty. The alternative risks establishing an industry with potentially large welfare costs before evidence catches up.