A biotechnology company is offering what it says is a highly nutritious replacement for soya in animal feed by farming flies. AgriProtein Technologies has developed a manufacturing process to produce fly larvae for inclusion in animal diets. The company is making use of slaughterhouse waste, animal manure and discarded food to grow the larvae, which are then dried and ground into a powdered ingredient for monogastric animal feeds. AgriProtein says the resulting product has a nutritional composition that is as good as fishmeal and better than soya - a vital and increasingly expensive component of poultry feed.
The cost of feed has been a controversial issue for free range egg producers in recent months, with the soaring cost of soya, in particular, hitting farmers’ finances. Attempts to find an alternative source of protein include trials by Aberystwyth University on the use of lupins, as we reported in the Ranger in April. One university professor recently told egg industry representatives that feed manufacturers should look at making use of insects as a protein replacement in diets.
Professor Louise Fresco of the University of Amsterdam told delegates at the International Egg Commission conference in Madrid in April, “There is a fantastic source of protein that we are not using and that is insects, insects in all kinds of forms.” She said, “There is some evidence that the potential for insects as feed rather than human food and as a substitute for some of the animal proteins may be an interesting issue.”
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation recently went further by suggesting that making better use of insects not only as a feed ingredient but also as a human food source could boost nutrition and reduce pollution.
It said that whilst two billion people around the world already supplemented their diets with insects, things like wasps, beetles and other insects were still being “underutilised.” The organisation said in a report, "Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint.” However, it conceded that “consumer disgust” was a large barrier to the use of insects in western countries.
Martin Humphrey of Humphrey Feeds, believes that such “consumer disgust” may extend to the use of insects in animal feed as well as human food, even though chickens are natural omnivores that would happily eat grubs out on the range.
Martin, who is a co-opted member of the council of the British Free Range Egg Producers’ Association (BFREPA), said, “There is no doubt that we need to be looking at other sources of protein, and fly larvae do grow incredibly quickly, but in Europe you do have to wonder whether consumers would be prepared to accept something that had lived on a diet of flies.” Martin said that, as far as he was aware, Defra had done some work on the possible use of insects some years ago, but the concern at the time was that consumers may prove resistant to the idea.
Production by AgriProtein Technologies is relatively small scale at the moment. The company is currently producing two tonnes of larvae protein a week in its plant near Cape Town in South Africa, but is gearing up manufacturing capacity with the creation of two full scale production plants in Cape Town and Germany.
“We are passionate about expanding our business to recycle more waste nutrients and supply a natural protein to feed farm animals,” said Jason Drew of AgriProtein, after receiving a $100,000 UN-backed innovation prize. The company was recently presented with the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA), an award that was established by the African Innovation Foundation and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa to encourage innovative achievements that contribute towards developing new products, increasing efficiency or saving cost.
AgriProtein says the farming of chickens, pigs and fish currently relies on protein from two sources - land-based soya plantations and marine fishmeal.
Increases in global food demand and environmental issues have caused prices of both protein sources to soar in recent years, it says. AgriProtein says that its process, which it calls nutrient recycling, makes use of organic waste to create protein to supply the increasing demand for animal feed.
The company says that larvae are a natural food of chickens in the wild and fish in streams. “Their nutritional composition is as good as that of fishmeal and better than soya. As a natural food it has excellent take on and digestibility properties,” says the company. “The most impressive part of the process is nature. A single female fly will lay 750 eggs in under a week, which will hatch into larvae which grow in weight over 400 times in just a few days. Our plant and machinery are modular in design, enabling plants to be built to suit each location. Each production line can produce up to ten tonnes of larvae protein per day.”
Jason Drew says the company, which is based in Stellenbosch, South Africa, has spent nearly six years working out how to get billions of egg-laying flies and larvae to work together. AgriProtein has had interest from nearly 30 countries wanting to license the process. And as well as setting up full-scale factories, the company has also developed a smaller unit for rural areas where small-scale animal owners can recycle their waste. Jason Drew said it was taken for granted that society should recycle tin, plastic and paper. Within 10 years it would be considered normal to recycle waste nutrients.
The company says it is already working with feed preparation partners to supply the bulk animal feed industry with its product, which, it says, will provide a constant and high quality supply source. It says the mixing with other ingredients to deliver the final feed product would be done by its clients to enable them to meet their own customers’ specific needs.
