28/07/2017: Insects in aquaculture feed after two decades

"Garden soldier fly on compost" by John Tann, Flickr

 From July 1, 2017, using insects in aquaculture feed will be authorised for the first time in nearly 20 years after it was banned in 1998 due to the BSE crisis. 

 Multibox is a circular economy company, based at the Royal Agricultural University's Farm491, an agricultural innovation centre, where they are developing an insect meal from Black Soldier Fly larvae fed on food waste. Multibox wants to become the world\s lowest cost producer of insects for the aquaculture industry. 

 17 percent of animal protein eaten by humans comes from fish, around 167 million tonnes in 2014 of which 93 million tonnes of the wild capture fish are used to produce fishmeal and fish oil much of which is used to feed fish in farms. This use of wild capture fish is not sustainable, particularly as wild fish captures have remained constant since 1990 but the demand for farmed fish has been growing at 3.5 percent per annum. 

 Around a quarter of UK food, 10 million tonnes in 2014, is wasted between the farm gate and the consumer at a cost of £38 billion per annum. Multibox's insects are fed on this food waste, making the meal and oil completely sustainable. 

 The company plans to build commercial scale insect farms and bring three products to market in the next 18 months, an insect meal which is used as a substitute for fishmeal in aquafeed, an insect oil to be used in aquaculture, pig and poultry feeds and insect excrement that can be used as a fertiliser. The fertiliser will be used to improve yields in agriculture, horticulture and hydroponics. These three products will initially be produced in the UK.

 Managing Director, Paul Wright comments, "The EU's decision to alter the processed animal products legislation has opened the doors for companies like us to work with the waste producers and the animal feed manufacturers to deliver a sustainable high quality fish feed whilst ensuring we leave the planet in a better condition for future generations." 

 Director of Farming and Value Creation, James Wright remarks, "I'm excited about the potential for farming Black Soldier Flies. We know from research that it is a like-for-like replacement for fishmeal and can be produced on waste. The issue has always been - can we up-scale the insect farming process to produce enough insects to meet industry demand and we are sure we can. 

 Visit the Multibox Farm491 website here. 

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