Insects as animal feed: Spanish company Bioflytech aims to establish itself as the global market leader with the mass production of soldier fly larvae

from Dipl.oec. Traute Kaufmann on 10 July 2023

Bioflytech takes on a pioneering role in the production, processing and marketing of vermin meal and vermin fat

The from Bioflytech The so-called ‘insect meal’ produced from the larvae of the soldier fly is to be sold as an ingredient for pet food, animal feed and aquaculture, while the pest fat is to be sold to the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

The necessary production facilities are currently being built in Galicia. The 12,000 tonnes of larvae per year will then be bred here. Bioflytech is aiming to establish itself as one of the global market leaders in the industry with this mass production of soldier fly larvae.

Mayor Pablo José Taboada Camoira expresses his thanks that vermin meal will help Spanish farmers to feed their livestock

As a result of the cattle disease BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), which first appeared in England in 1986 and also affected humans, feed of animal origin - including insects - may not be fed to farm animals in the EU until 2021. The cause was found to be the feeding of diseased sheep to cattle. As a result, the feeding of animals processed into meal to ruminants was banned by the British government in 1988. For a long time, however, the export of meat and bone meal to the European continent was either not controlled at all or only insufficiently (4). It is only since 1989 that the European Commission and EU Member States have implemented a comprehensive set of measures to control the BSE risk in the EU. BSE is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that occurs in humans and animals and is known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). It is caused by the abnormal form of a cell protein called prion protein (PrP). The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) states that classical BSE is transmissible to humans and that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is transmitted to humans as a variant when contaminated meat is consumed (5).

Pigs and chickens have been allowed to be fed insects in the EU since 2021

The feeding of insects to aquaculture fish has been permitted since 2017 and to poultry and pigs since 2021. These farm animals are species that naturally (also) eat animal food and can utilise it well. Pure herbivores such as cattle, sheep or goats, on the other hand, are not allowed to be fed insects (6). Irrespective of this, interest in this business model is increasing and it can be assumed for various reasons that insect meal and insect fat will be given an even greater role in our food chain by the authorities in the future. It is therefore important from a consumer perspective to gain clarity on the risks associated with the production, processing and consumption of insects as a source of protein, both directly and indirectly through their use as animal feed.

EFSA: Incidence of abnormal proteins in insects that can cause BSE or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease expected to be the same or lower than in conventional protein sources

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) comes to the following conclusion in its opinion: "[...] the possible presence of biological and chemical hazards in food and feed derived from insects would depend on the production methods, the insects’ diet (the substrate), the life cycle phase in which the insects are harvested, the insect species and the methods used for further processing [...]". (7). EFSA's experts believe that feeding unprocessed insects with currently authorised feed materials is likely to pose the same microbiological hazard potential as other non-processed protein sources, but at the same time acknowledge that the available data on the transfer of chemical contaminants from different substrate types to the insects themselves is limited. Nevertheless, their conclusion is that "the incidence of prions - abnormal proteins that can cause diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans - is likely to be the same or lower in insects than in conventional protein sources, provided the substrate does not contain human protein (manure) or protein from ruminants" (7).

Consumers should draw their own conclusions from these statements by the EFSA experts.

If you don't want to take any risks, check your food purchases for insect meal, insect fat and other ingredients from insects with the app called InsectInspect / Insects in food

The app InsectInspect.app / InsekteninLebensmitteln.com can read the list of ingredients and therefore offers the highest hit rates

The app reads the EAN code or the list of ingredients and reliably identifies unwanted insect ingredients. And of course the app also works for checking dog and cat food for unwanted insect ingredients such as house cricket, flour beetle, grasshopper and buffalo worm. Unlike comparable apps, the app can read the list of ingredients and is therefore independent of the functionality of the EAN code. This is important because many EAN codes are not stored in official databases such as the Open Food Fact. This is where comparable apps fall short and often display a question mark because they cannot read the ingredients. Insect Inspect.app does not let you down here, which is particularly important for regional foods, as these are not usually stored in official databases. The app is available both as iOS, as well as for Androids avaiable. On this website you will find the links to the Apple Shop and Google Play, where you can purchase the product for a small fee and download it to your smartphone.

Sources:

(1)    Bioflytech (17.04.2024): Bioflytech to Produce Flours and Fats from Dried Black Soldier Fly Larvae. NewProtein.net. Abgerufen von https://www.newprotein.net/news/bioflytech-to-produce-flours-and-fats-from-dried-black-soldier-fly-larvae am 19.04.2024.

(2)    La Voz de Galicias (09.02.2023). Palas de Rei tendrá un planta de cosecha y cría de larva de mosca que creará 50 empleos directos. Abgerufen von https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/lugo/palas-de-rei/2023/02/09/palas-rei/00031675937828087994849.htm am 19.04.2024.

(3)    Ebenda.

(4)    Rheinische Post (27.11.2000): Rinderwahnsinn vor 14 Jahren entdeckt. Abgerufen von https://rp-online.de/politik/rinderwahnsinn-vor-14-jahren-entdeckt_aid-8200117 am 20.04.2024,

(5)    Europäische Behörde für Lebensmittelsicherheit - efsa (31.08.2023): Bovine Spongiforme Enzephalopathie (BSE). Abgerufen von https://www.efsa.europa.eu/de/topics/topic/bovine-spongiform-encephalopathy-bse am 20.04.2024.

(6)    Bundesinformationszentrum Landwirtschaft (30.05.2023): Insekten als Futter für Nutztiere. Abgerufen von https://www.landwirtschaft.de/landwirtschaft-verstehen/wie-funktioniert-landwirtschaft-heute/innovation-und-technik/insekten-als-futter-fuer-nutztiere am 19.04.2024.

(7)    Efsa Europäische Behörde für Lebensmittelsicherheit (08.10.2015): Insekten als Lebens- und Futtermittel: Was sind die Risiken? Abgerufen von https://www.efsa.europa.eu/de/press/news/151008a#:~:text=Das%20Auftreten%20von%20Prionen%20%E2%80%93%20anormale,Proteinquellen%2C%20sofern%20das%20Substrat%20kein am 19.04.2024.

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