Insects as feed explained

Insects as feed are insect species used as animal feed, either for livestock, including aquaculture, or as pet food.

As livestock feed production uses ~33% of the world's agricultural cropland use, insects might be able to supplement livestock feed. They can transform low-value organic wastes, are nutritious and have low environmental impacts.

Utility

Due to their nutritional profile, especially the high protein content, various types of insects can be used as feed for industrial animal production and aquaculture. An insect-based diet for farm animals has been scientifically investigated for pigs, poultry and edible fish. Insects can provide as much protein and essential amino acids for swine and poultry that can potentially replace soybean meal in a diet.^[1] Inclusion of black soldier fly larvae in a diet for fish farming gave positive effect with no difference in odor and texture.^[2] At the same time, there are challenges and disadvantages compared to established feed in terms of performance and growth. For monogastric farm animals, such as swine and poultry, replacing their conventional formula entirely with insects can result to decrease in performance and growth e.g., because insect flour may contain high levels of ash.^[3] However other research suggests that animals fed insect protein from black-soldier flies, achieved faster growth rates and better-quality meat than with soya or fishmeal.^[4] Insects as feed are legally considered farm animals themselves, therefore they must not receive feed from ruminant proteins, kitchen and food waste, meat and bone meal and liquid manure.

With a view to protecting the environment and resources as well as feed and food security in the face of a growing world population, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for increased use of feed insects for feed production.^[5]

Insect species with potential as feed

Black-soldier flies, common house fly larvae and mealworms are some of the most common insects in animal feed production. Black soldier flies and common house flies often reside in manure piles and in organic wastes. Farming these insects could promote better manure and organic waste management, while providing nutritious feed ingredient to pets and livestock.

Aside from nutritional composition and digestibility, insects are also selected for ease of rearing by the producer. A study compared insect species regarding their suitability as feed material, investigating their development time, survival rate, efficiency of converting base feed into insect biomass (FCR), dry matter conversion rate (ECI), and nitrogen efficiency (N-ECI).^[6] In the table, values indicate the mean ± one standard deviation, and superscripts indicate significant differences.

Sample Size	n	Diet	Survival rate	Development time (days)	FCR	ECI	N-ECI
Argentinian Cockroach	6	HPHF	80±17.9^a	200±28.8^c	1.7±0.24^c	21±3.0^b	58±8.3^b
	6	HPLF	47±16.3^b	294±33.5^a	2.3±0.35^ab	16±2.7^bc	51±8.7^b
	6	LPHF	53±13.2^ab	266±29.3^ab	1.5±0.19^c	30±3.9^a	87±11.4^a
	6	LPLF	51±12.2^ab	237±14.9^bc	1.7±0.15^bc	18±1.9^bc	66±6.7^b
	6	Control	75±21.7^ab	211±18.7^c	2.7±0.47^a	14±2.1^c	52±8.1^b
Black Soldier Fly	6	HPHF	86±18.0	21±1.4^c	1.4±0.12	24±1.5	51±3.2
	6	HPLF	77±19.8	33±5.4^ab	1.9±0.20	20±1.3	51±32.5
	6	LPHF	72±12.9	37±10.6^a	2.3±0.56	18±4.8	55±14.6
	5	LPLF	74±23.5	37±5.8^a	2.6±0.85	17±5.0	43±12.8
	6	Control	75±31.0	21±1.1^bc	1.8±0.71	23±5.3	52±12.2
Yellow Meal Worm	6	HPHF	79±7.0^ab	116±5.2^def	3.8±0.63^c	12±2.7^cdef	29±6.7^cde
	6	HPLF	67±12.3^bc	144±13.0^cd	4.1±0.25^c	10±1.0^def	22±2.3^e
	6	LPHF	19±7.3^e	191±21.9^ab	5.3±0.81^c	8±0.8^ef	28±2.8^de
	6	LPLF	52±9.2^cd	227±26.9^a	6.1±0.62^c	7±1.0^f	23±3.1^de
	6	Control 1	84±9.9^ab	145±9.3^cd	4.8±0.14^c	9±0.2^def	28±0.6^cde
	6	Control 2	34±15.0^de	151±7.8^bcd	4.1±0.49^c	11±1.5^cdef	31±4.2^cde
	6	HPHF-C	88±5.4^ab	88±5.1^f	4.5±0.17^c	19±1.6^ab	45±4.5^b
	6	HPLF-C	82±6.4^ab	83±6.5^f	5.8±0.48^c	15±0.9^bc	35±2.2^bcd
	6	LPHF-C	15±7.4^e	135±17.3^cde	19.1±5.93^a	13±2.7^cde	45±9.2^ab
	6	LPLF-C	80±5.6^ab	164±32.9^bc	10.9±0.61^b	13±1.4^cde	41±4.6^bc
	6	Control 1-C	93±9.3^a	91±8.5^f	5.5±0.49^c	14±3.3^bcd	45±2.4^b
	6	Control 2-C	88±3.1^ab	E95±8.0^ef	5.0±0.48^c	21±2.6^a	58±7.3^a
	6	HPHF	27±19.0^ab	55±7.3^c	4.5±2.84	8±4.9	23±13.4^b
	1	HPLF	6	117	10	3	-
	3	LPHF	7±3.1^b	167±4.4^a	6.1±1.75	5±1.3	-
	2	LPLF	11±1.4^b	121±2.8^b	3.2±0.69	9±2.2	-
	6	Control	55±11.2^a	48±2.3^c	2.3±0.57	12±3.2	41±10.8^a

HPHF = high protein, high fat; HPLF = high protein, low fat; LPHF = low protein, high fat; LPLF = low protein, low fat, C= carrot supplementation

Insects as feed in aquaculture

In the European Union, the use of seven insect species as feed in aquaculture has been permitted since July 1, 2017:^[7]

Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens),
Housefly (Musca domestica),
Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor),
Lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus),
House cricket (Acheta domesticus),
Tropical house cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus), as well as
Field cricket (Gryllus assimilis).

The inclusion of black soldier flies in the feed of farmed fish had positive results and showed no differences in taste or texture of the fish.^[3]

Environment and sustainability

As global populations rise, food demand is becoming an increasingly important issue. Raising conventional livestock requires resources such as land and water. As a result, the ability to meet the needs of the growing population may require alternative sources of quality protein.^[8]

Insects also have the ability to feed on organic waste products such as vegetable, restaurant and animal waste, therefore reducing the amount of excess food produced by humans.^[9] Insects are efficient at converting feed into protein.^[10]

Challenges

According to two researchers, the "scaling up of production depends on whether cheap organic wastes can be safely used and easily biotransformed into high-quality insect products and whether legislative frameworks are conducive to this approach".^[11]

Further challenges include "automation of production techniques, optimization of bioconversion by an efficient interaction between microbes in the insect gut and feed substrate, disease management, making use of the short life cycle of insects to select efficient strains of insects and microbes for certain diets, food safety issues, and processing" as well as "safety of using waste to avoid any pathogen transmission".^[11]

Regulation

The use of insects in feed in the European Union was previously prohibited under an act called "TSE Regulation" (Article 7 and Annex IV of Regulation 999/2001) that bans the use of animal protein in animal feed. In July 2017 this regulation was revised and partially lifts the ban on animal proteins, allowing insects to be included in fish feed.

This was coupled with another change that reclassified insects in the European Union (EU) catalogue of feed materials. This change specifically references to insect fats and insects proteins instead of classifying them under a broad title of animal products. Due to this change, producers now must list the species and life stage of the insect on their product.^[12]

In 2021, the EU authorized insect-derived processed animal proteins in poultry and pig feed.^[11]

References

Makkar, H., Tran, G., Heuze, V., Ankers, P. . November 2014 . State-of-the-art on use of insects as animal feed . Animal Feed Science and Technology . 197 . 1–33. 10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2014.07.008 .
Reuters/Karl Plume (13. April 2018): Insect farms gear up to feed soaring global protein demand.
Makkar, H., Tran, G., Heuze, V., Ankers, P. (2014): State-of-the-art on use of insects as animal feed. In: Animal Feed Science and Technology. Vol. 197, pp. 1–33.
Web site: Filou . Emilie . 2022-02-24 . Catching the bug: are farmed insects about to take off in Africa? . 2022-02-27 . The Guardian . en.
FAO (2013): The contribution of insects to food security, livelihoods and the environment.
10.1371/journal.pone.0144601 . 26699129 . 4689427 . Feed Conversion, Survival and Development, and Composition of Four Insect Species on Diets Composed of Food By-Products . PLOS ONE . 10 . 12 . e0144601 . 2015 . Oonincx . Dennis G. A. B . Van Broekhoven . Sarah . Van Huis . Arnold . Van Loon . Joop J. A . 2015PLoSO..1044601O. free .
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32017R0893 Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/893 of 24 May 2017 amending Annexes I and IV to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Annexes X, XIV and XV to Commission Regulation (EU) No 142/2011 as regards the provisions on processed animal protein
Premalatha . M . November 5, 2017 . Energy-efficient food production to reduce global warming and ecodegradation: The use of edible insects . Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews . 15 . 9 . 4357–4360. 10.1016/j.rser.2011.07.115 .
Rumpold, B.A., & Schlüter O.K. (2013) Potential and challenges of insects as an innovative source for food and feed production.Innov Food Sci Emerg Technol 17, 1–11.
Book: van, Huis, Arnold . Edible insects : future prospects for food and feed security . 9789251075968 . Rome . 868923724.
van Huis . Arnold . Gasco . Laura . Insects as feed for livestock production . Science . 13 January 2023 . 379 . 6628 . 138–139 . 10.1126/science.adc9165 . 36634163 . 2023Sci...379..138V . 255749691 . en . 0036-8075.
- News report on the study: News: Yirka . Bob . Making the case for using insects as food for both humans and livestock . 17 February 2023 . . en . 28 January 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230128211900/https://phys.org/news/2023-01-case-insects-food-humans-livestock.html . live .
Web site: EU Legislation - IPIFF . www.ipiff.org. 2017-11-22.

External links

FAO: Insects for food and feed
European Food Safety Authority: Risk profile related to production and consumption of insects as food and feed