The United Nations has new weapons to fight hunger, boost nutrition and reduce pollution, and they might be crawling or flying near you right now: edible insects.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently stated that bugs such as grasshoppers, ants and other members of the insect world are an underutilized source of food for people, livestock and pets.

A 200-page report released by the FAO said 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diets with insects, which are high in protein and minerals. The report also pointed out that the insects offer big environmental benefits.

Insects are "extremely efficient" at converting feed into edible meat, the FAO said. On average, they can convert 2 kilograms of feed into 1 kilogram of insect mass. In comparison, cows require 8 kilograms of feed to produce a kilo of meat.

Most insects are likely to produce fewer environmentally harmful greenhouse gases, and also feed on human and food waste, the FAO noted.

Currently, most edible insects are gathered in forests. Although some insect farming does take place, it is often in small, family-run businesses and serves niche markets. But the U.N. said new methods could easily be used to increase insect farming production. The fish bait industry, for example, has been farming insects for a long time.

Insect farming is "one of the many ways to address food and feed security," the FAO said. "Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly," it noted, adding that they leave a "low environmental footprint." They provide high-quality protein and nutrients and are "particularly important as a food supplement for undernourished children," it said.

Insects can also be rich in copper, iron, magnesium, zinc and other important minerals and are a source of fiber. The agency noted that its Edible Insect Program is also examining the potential of arachnids, such as spiders and scorpions, although they are not strictly speaking insects.

Biologists have already analyzed the nutritional value of many edible insects and have shown that some of them, such as certain beetles, ants, crickets and grasshoppers, come close to lean red meat or fish in terms of protein per gram. Beetles and caterpillars are the most common meals among the more than 1,900 edible insect species that people eat. Other popular insect foods are bees, wasps, ants, grasshoppers, locusts and crickets, according to U.N. data.

But are they tasty? The report noted that some caterpillars in southern Africa and weaver ant eggs in Southeast Asia are considered delicacies and command high prices. And some insects may already be in your food. Demand for natural food coloring as opposed to artificial dyes is increasing, the FAO's experts said. A red coloring produced from the cochineal, an insect often exported from Peru, is already used in an internationally popular brand of strawberry yogurt. Many drug companies also use colorings from insects in their pills.

And while some people might not want to entertain the thought of consuming insects, it is important to note that we are all probably eating them already. People eat many insects inadvertently throughout the course of their lives.