The document discusses farming insects as food and feed. It notes that insects are a more sustainable source of protein compared to traditional livestock like cattle due to insects requiring less land and water and producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions. However, harvesting insects from the wild is often unsustainable. The document explores farming insects industrially and using insects to convert organic waste into protein and fat. It also discusses food safety issues regarding bacteria, viruses, heavy metals and allergens that must be addressed for insects to be safely consumed or used as feed.

1. Farming insects as food and feed
Edible insects, Seinäjoki, Finland, 1st February 2017
Prof. Dr Ir Arnold van Huis

2. Insects as food or feed
 Insects are mini-livestock, like
rearing chicken, pigs or cattle
 The insects are either:
● Used for human
consumption
● As feed for food-producing
animals (poultry, pigs or
fish) or pets

3. Contents
Meat crises
 Edible insects: a solution?
 Unsustainable harvesting
 Insects as bioconverters
 Food safety/legislation
 Conclusions

4. Meat crisis ?
 Livestock long shadow (FAO)
(Steinfeld et al, 2006)
 Eating animals (Jonathan Safran Foer, 2009)
 The meat crisis: developing more
sustainable production and
consumption (D'Silva and Webster, 2010)
 Farmageddon: the true cost of
cheap meat (Lymbery and Oakeshott, 2014)
 The moral complexities of eating
meat (Bramble and Fischer, 2016)

5. Problems livestock
 Land area not enough in 2050
● Increase demand meat: 76%
● Area livestock now: 80%
 Livestock globally emits
● Greenhouse gases: 8-18%
● Ammonia: 59-71%
 Water for 1 kg beef: 20.000-40.000 liters
 Others problems: Deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, loss of plant
biodiversity, public health, and water pollution

6. Livestock and environment
Fert., transport, etc.
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
9%
Manure, urine
Nitrous oxide (N2O)
35-40%
Enteric fermentation
Methane (CH4)
65%
G l o b a l w a r m i n g p o t e n t i a l
1 289 23
Livestock responsible for 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions

7. How to satisfy increasing meat
demand?
 Eat less meat
 Use more land (75% already livestock)
 More efficient “Field to fork”
 Cultured meat
 Alternative protein sources
● Seaweed
● Algae
● Duck weed
● Insects

8. Contents
 Meat crises
Edible insects: a solution?
 Unsustainable harvesting
 Insects as bioconverters
 Food safety/legislation
 Conclusions

9. Why insects as food or feed?
 Less greenhouse gas
emissions
 Land area needed
much less
 Efficient feed
conversion ratio
 Can turn low value
organic side streams
into protein (even
manure)

10. Ammonia production per kg mass gain
0
500
1000
1500
2000
Mealworm Cricket Locust Pigs
NH3
(mg/day/kg mass gain)
Max:
1920
Min
1140
Oonincx et al (2010)
Eutrophication
Soil acidification
(NH4)
nitrite (NO2)
& nitrate (NO3)
releasing H+
ions into soil

11. Environment: number of times mealworms
better than conventional meat products (LCA)
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
Pork Chicken Beef Pork Chicken Beef Pork Chicken Beef Pork Chicken Beef
Global warming
potential
(kg CO2-eq.)
Energy use
(MJ)
Land use
(m2)
Water use
(liter)
Max.
Min.
Oonincx and De Boer (2012)
Miglietta et al (2015)

12. Water footprint per gram of protein
23
34
57
112
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Mealworms Chicken meat Pig meat Beef
L/g protein
Miglietta et al (2015)

13. 46 198
How many m2 to produce 1 kg protein
18
Oonincx & de Boer (2012)
45
Minimum Maximum

14. Kg feed to produce 1 kg edible product
0 10 20 30
Cattle
Pig
Chicken
Cricket
kg feed
Insects cold-blooded
Van Huis (2013)

15. Waste of food and agriculture industry
US$ 750 billion
FAO (2011), Economist (2014)

16. Contents
 Meat crises
 Edible insects: a solution?
Unsustainable harvesting
 Insects as bioconverters
 Food safety/legislation
 Conclusions

17. Insect and respect
 Products: honey, silk
 Pollination
 Decomposers
 Natural control pests (predators/parasitoids)
Number insect species
Total ±5 million
Described 1 million
Harmful 5000 (0.1%)

18. Source: Yde Jongema, 2014 (http://tinyurl.com/mestm6p)
: 2039
Number of species: 2037

20. Palm weevils (Rhynchophorus spp.)
 Asia - R. ferrugineus
 S. America - R. palmarum
 Africa - R. phoenicis

21. Mopane
caterpillar
Annually
- 10 billion caterpillars
- US$ 85 million
Picture: Kenichi Nonaka

22. Ecology and edible insects
When harvesting from nature, the resource is
threatened due to
● Overexploitation (with increased demand/price)
● Pollution (of waterways)
● Pesticide use of edible insects in crops
● Habitat change (e.g. logging)
Payne (2015), Ramos-Elorduy (2006)

23. Aquatic insects – pollution
Loktak Lake, Manipur
 31 aquatic edible insects
 Giant waterbug most popular
 Pollution by pesticides/fertilizers
 Giant waterbug is disappearing
Lethocerus indicus
(Hemiptera: Belostomatidae),
locally called ‘Naosek’

24. Threatened
edible insects
in Mexico

25. Mexican caviar (Hemiptera eggs): ahuauhtle
 Eggs (0.5–1 mm) of Corisella, Corixa and Notonecta
semi-cultivated by providing egg-laying sites
 Bundles of twigs, grasses or reeds bound together with a
rope on bottom of lakes using stones
 Eggs harvested by removing bundles and shaking
 Harvests declined due to pollution
Preparing insect egg nursery

26. 20.000 farms produce
7.500 tonnes a year
Mealworms for human food Black Soldier Fly as feed for animals Crickets as food in Thailand
Palm weevils Edible insects Weaver ants Mopane
caterpillar
10 billion caterpillars
US$ 85 million / year
From harvesting
to rearing

27. Contents
 Meat crises
 Edible insects: a solution?
 Unsustainable harvesting
Insects as bioconverters
 Food safety/legislation
 Conclusions

28. Insects suitable as feed
Black soldier fly
Hermetia illucens
Housefly
Musca domestica
Blue Tilapia Rainbow trout
Channel catfish
Salmon
Yellow mealworm
Tenebrio molitor

29. Insect species as animal feed and
converters of organic by-products
 Black soldier fly
● poultry, pig, and cattle manure
● Coffee bean pulp, vegetables, catsup,
carrion, and fish offal
 Common housefly
● Poultry, pig, and cattle manure
● Municipal organic waste
 Yellow mealworm
● Dried and cooked waste materials from
fruits, vegetables, and cereals

30. Biodegradation swine manure by housefly
 One cage 25,000 pupae: 178
ml eggs in 2 weeks enough to
biodegradate 178–444 kg of
manure (inoculate: 0.4-1.0 ml
of eggs per kg of manure)
 Larval development: 6–11 days
 Larval survival range: 47-77%
 Processing 1 kg of manure
● 44–74 g of pupae
● Residue: 0.18–0.65 kg
Čičková et al. (2015)

31. Black soldier fly as biocomposter
BioPod
Technology:
Turning
slaughter-
house waste
and other
agricultural
waste
streams into
nutritious
insect protein
Robert Olivier
(CompostMania.com,
Hawaii)

32. From spare food to
spare ribs
Kupferschmidt (2015)
FatProtein Fertilizer

33. Life histories of fly species for
biodegradation (rearing conditions)
Housefly Manure, garbage,
food scrapes
Black
Soldier Fly
Manure, rotting
plant material,
food scrapes
Lucilla
sericata
Carrion, meat,
manure
Musca
autumnalis
Cattle manure
Substrate
Fly
species
Cicková et al. (2015)
Minimum
Maximum
Minimum
Maximum
Housefly Black Soldier Fly

34. Oonincx et al. (2015)
Survival,
development,
and yield
Black soldier flies
reared on
chicken, pig or cow
manure

35. Industrial production units
 Reproduction
(continuous
process to
produce eggs
Eggs
Larval
stages
Last larval
stage
Pre(pupae)
Eggs harvested & sown
on feeding substrate
Harvested by separating
insects from substrate
complete metamorphosis incomplete metamorphosis
Crickets
Production (eggs to
larvae or pupae)
Flies

36. Egg case 400-600 eggs
Hatching in 4-5 days
Female 900 eggs Larval develop 2-4 weeks
Black Soldier Fly
(Hermetia illucens)
worldwide &
native of North
American continent

37. Production of Black Soldier Fly
Reproducing
(Mating)
Egg
Hatchery
Rearing
Insects
Harvesting
- Fertilizer
- Chitin
- Larvae
Protein
Fat
Eggs Synchronization of larval
development
Separating pre-pupae
and substrate
Processing of
prepupae
Products

38. Black soldier fly: from by-product to high
quality insect protein
Organic
side
stream
(100%)
Larvae
biomass
(25%)
Insect
meal
(8.7%)
Defatted
insect meal
(6.3%)
Oil
(2.4%)
Entofood (2015)

39. What about BSF meal for salmon?
 Proteins vegetable origin (protein soy, corn, pea,
wheat)
● Unbalanced AA profiles, high fibre content, anti-
nutritional factors; competes with food human
consumption
 Insect meal:
● < 50% fishmeal replaced without problems
● Odour, flavour/taste, texture same
● Favourable AA profile
● Highly digestible lipid
Lock et al. (2015)

40. Price of protein-rich raw materials
Raw material
Price (€/tonne)
Last three years
Fishmeal 1500-1900
High protein soya 350-620
Peas 320-450
Mealworm 4750 (LEI, 2010)
Housefly 900 (Agriprotein, 2013)
Black Soldier Fly 1000
(Drew and Pieterse, 2015)

41. The South Africa (Cape Town)
David and Jason Drew
One kilo of fly eggs
produce 380 kg of
larvae in 72 hours
Raised:
• US$ 11 million (up to 2015)
Production 2015 / day:
• 7 tonnes of MagMeal™
• 3 tonnes of MagOil™

42. Cricket farm in Chiang Mai, Thailand
20,000 cricket farms producing 7,500 tons a year

43. FULL AUTOMATION & MECHANISATION
Proti-Farm (Lesser mealworm)

44. Canada
The Netherlands
USA
Ynsect
France
South Africa
Spain
China
Europe: International Platform for insects as
food and feed (launched 13 April 2015)
Germany
Honduras; Nicaragua
Hawaii Malaysia
BSF
MW

45. Dangers with industrial production
 Risks for plant health
● Quarantine status
● Dangerous for crops
● Dangerous for native plants
 Health risks for humans or animals
● Vector or carrier of diseases
● Nuisance (e.g. escape)

46. Biofuel from Black Soldier Fly larvae
 Renewable and environmentally friendly fuel, and crop
oil limited and expensive food resource
 Biodiesel (density, viscosity, ester content, flash point and cetane number)
comparable to biodiesel from rapeseed
35.5
57.8
91.4
Cattle Pig Chicken
Gram biodiesel from 1 kg manure
High fat content
BSF larvae
Li et al (2011)
Crude fat extraction by petroleum ether

47. Contents
 Meat crises
 Edible insects: a solution?
 Unsustainable harvesting
 Insects as bioconverters
Food safety/legislation
 Conclusions

48. Risk profile
 Biological hazards (bacteria,
viruses, parasites, fungi,
prions)
 Chemical hazards (heavy
metals, toxins, veterinary
drugs, hormones and others)
 Allergens
 Environmental hazards

49. Bacteria
 Pathogenic bacteria (Salmonella, Campylobacter, and vertotoxigenic E. coli)
harmless to animals and humans (hosts phylogenetically
very different)
 Bacterial hazards
● Rearing conditions (substrate and feed)
● Handling, processing and preservation
 Prevalence lower compared (such as Campylobacter) to other
non-processed sources of animal protein (active replication of
pathogens in intestinal tract does not occur in insects)
Campylobacter
E. coli Salmonella

50. Viruses
 Insect pathogenic viruses are not pathogenic for
vertebrate animals and humans.
 Viruses pathogenic for vertebrates can be transmitted by
insects through contaminated substrates
 Effective processing and detection

51. Prions
 Why important? EC 999/2001
prohibits all Processed Animal Protein
in animal feed (in response to BSE) –
animals not to be fed to animals
(insects are animals)
 No risks when substrate includes
protein of non-human or non-
ruminant origin

52. Heavy metals
 Samples of 4 fly species (feed) showed
cadmium levels in housefly to be of
concern (Charlton et al, 2015)
 Home prepared dried chapulines from
Oaxaca, Mexico high lead levels (ceramics
or silver mining) (Handley et al, 2007)
 Arsenic in Bogong moths from Snowy
Mountains caves - transport (1000 km)
from eastern Australia (pesticides) to
aestivation sites (Green et al, 2001)
 Conclusion: Heavy metals from feed to
insect - route of contamination

53. Veterinary drugs and hormones
 To combat pathogens in insect farming veterinary drugs
may be used, resulting in residues
 Giant mealworms: Tenebrio molitor larvae grow to large
size when treated with juvenile hormone to delay
pupation
X
“Mighty mealys”
Juvenile hormone
prevents pupation
and larvae grow to
abnormal size

54. Toxins produced by edible insects
 Stinkbugs (Hemiptera: Tessaratomidae and
Pentatomidae) collected, eaten raw or cooked (Malawi,
India, Laos, Mexico and Papua New Guinea) - defence
chemical stains human skin and stings eyes (temporary
blindness)
 Grasshopper Africa
● Z. elegans
● Z. variegatus
Zonocerus variegatus (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae
Stinking grasshopper

55. Allergies caused by insect
consumption
 Proteins - immunoglobulin E (IgE) mediated reactions
 Major cross-reactive allergens of crustacean, house dust
mite and mealworms are
● Tropomyosin (shellfish – house dust mites and
insects) – high amino acid homology
● Arginine kinase (also between prawn Macrobrachium and
cricket Gryllus bimaculatus)
 Heat processing and in vitro digestion did diminish, but
not eliminate, cross reactivity
 LABELLING REQUIRED
Van Broekhoven et al (2015); Verhoekcx et al (2014);
Srinroch et al (2015)

56. EU declares insects to have novel food
status (25 Nov. 2015)
 Because no evidence of consumption in EU before 1997
 Legislation will be effective 1st January 2018
 During this period companies allowed to market insects
 Companies need to provide evidence food safety
 Approvals will be generic (not linked to company)
 Centralized European procedure (EC decides based on
opinion EFSA)

57. Legislation “Insects as feed”
 Non-pathogenic insects (category 3 material) suitable as
feed when processed according to “EU Animal By-
Products Regulation 1069/2009” to become ‘Processed
Animal Protein’ (PAP)
 However, in response to BSE, EC 999/2001 prohibits all
PAP (except hydrolysed proteins) used in animal feed
 Ban partly lifted (EC 56/2013), PAP derived from insects
allowed as feed in aquaculture
 Does not cover pig and poultry feed (diagnostics to
detect pig or poultry material in feed required) –
decision September 2015 (EFSA)

58. EU Legislation “substrates to rear insects”
 Each year EU produces 1.4 billion tonnes of manure and
88 million tonnes of garden and kitchen waste (40% in
landfill sites)
 Manure and catering waste (EC 1069/2009) cannot be
used as feed
 Waste products from bioethanol production (EC 68/2013)
allowed

59. Slaughterhouse for
insects?
Insects processed
according to EU regulation
1069/2009 to become PAP
before fed to food
producing animals
This means
slaughtered
as livestock

60. Insect welfare?
 Can insects experience
pain?
● Not adaptive
● Perception pain in
brain absent
● No pain behaviour
 Benefit of the doubt
(freezing, blanching,
grinding)
Number of neurons brain animals
- Fruitfly 100.000
- Cockroach 1.000.000
- Mouse 75.000.000
- Human 85.000.000.000

61. Providing fly larvae to pigs
 Increasing environmental complexity
 Working for food improves welfare (Zebunke et al., 2013; Franks and
Higgins, 2012)
 Provides macro nutrients
 May reduce antibiotic use
● Chitin reduces diarrhoea incidence and attenuates
the immune response of weaned pigs challenged
with E. coli (Liu et al., 2010)
● High levels of lauric acid (antimicrobial properties)

62. Contents
 Meat crises
 Edible insects: a solution?
 Unsustainable harvesting
 Insects as bioconverters
 Food safety/legislation
Conclusions

63. Feed for pets, livestock and fish (2015)
Chicken
47%
Pig
25%
Ruminant
20%
Fish
4%
Pet
2%
Horse
1% Other
1%
996 million tonnes
(150 million tonnes protein)
≈ US$ 500 billion
Alltech (2015, 2016)
14% growth (2011-2015)
Maize – 76% of cereals
Soybean meal – 96% of protein

64. Predictions about market edible insects
from 2016 onwards
Crowdfunding
Six Foods
- US$ 70.000
Chapul
- US$ 66.000
0.36
1.5
0.52
0.723
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
Newsweek
Europe
Arcluster Global Market
Insights
Persistence
market
research
YEAR: <2010 2021 2023 2024
Billion US$

65. 7
20
73
14
23
63
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2002-2006 2007-2011 2012-2016
WoS Google Scholar
Hits WoS (162) and Google Scholar (2752)
using “edible insects”
%

66. Book
EDIBLE INSECTS: Future
prospects
for food and feed security
(van Huis et al, 2013)
Download: FAO website
Launched at FAO Rome:
2013
Downloaded: 7 million
times
Translated in Chinese, Italian,
French and Korean

67. Consumer studies
 How to convince western consumer?
 Strategies proposed: experimental
tasting, providing info, processing
(burgers), sky shrimps, role models,
cookbooks, children
 Gastronomy

68. New journal from 2005 onwards
Van Huis, A. (2015) Edible
insects contributing to
food security?
Journal of Agriculture and
Food Security, 4:20 (open
access)

69. Enabling environment
 Why? New sector: No rules and protocols
 What? Mainly regulatory frameworks
 Who?
● International (FAO, EU)
● National governments
● Companies
● Academia
● Stakeholders
 How? Lobbying, promotion
Government
Enterprises Academia
Golden
triangle

70. Way forward
Disciplinary focus
Ethno-entomology
Statistics edible insects
Nutrition
Environment
Food Safety
Farming
Consumer attitudes
Gastronomy