Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

DEVELOPING A SUSTAINABLE BLACK SOLDIER FLY PROTEIN INDUSTRY FOR FISH FEEDS

Radu Popa*

Stratium

2440 Sheridan Drive

 Buffalo, NY 14051

radu.o.popa@gmail.com

 



 Insect husbandry is  an economically promising and  environmentally responsible means to produce quality  ingredients for fish feeds . Among all insects, one the best candidates  for this role  is  the black soldier fly ( Hermetia illucens)  which has already been tested on many  species of fish .  This  insect  is prolific, and its life cycle  sufficiently  well  understood for  a controllable  husbandry. The  black soldier fly (BSF) larvae grow very fast (2,000X gain in about 20 days)  eating  a wide  variety of  food  waste  materials  and  show  excellent food conversion efficiency . Very i mportant for any animal  growing  industry,  the  BSF larvae  cultures  tolerate  the highest  known  biomass density (in kg per volume of growth facility), and have the highest biomass yield,  relative to  any  other farmed animal. Close to 100 million tons of surplus organics  is available  each year in the US alone . If  all  this  waste  material  is  steered toward farmed insects it would result in more protein than the global production of fish meal.  Recent advances in the BSF science and industry create d an opportunity for rapid expansion of BSF protein as a reliable commodity. We review features that will heavily influence the contribution of the BSF protein industry to the evolution of fish farming. These are: requirements and solutions for high product quality; relationship between technological advances and production costs; and ecological impacts of the BSF industry.

 With regards to product quality, we will discuss the importance of  the  BSF feed materials. The sourcing, composition and  the  pre-processing of the  larvae  feed have become key requirements  for  obtaining quality protein. We will also discuss how novel  fermentation technologies  led to an industry that is  now safe fro m spreading food-borne pathogen s. The quality and consistency of the products (proteins and fats) are discussed , as well as other valuable byproducts of this industry (fertilizers and BSF-derived polymers) . Selection processes, novel genetic lines, larvae immunization for increased fish health and the monitoring of insect pathogens are promising research directions to the benefit of this industry .   

At the technology level, four  types of  processes control product quality and  the economic efficiency of the BSF protein industry. These are: the husbandry protocols , the biomass  drying  method, the defatting choice and the technologies used for mass transfer. We compare outcomes of the various technological choices  that are presently implemented in th e BSF  industry and what should be expected with regards to performance  for fish feeds . The introduction of automation in large factories led to sizable BSF factories with improved economics. This is excellent news for urban areas that  must  manage large volumes of  perishable  food waste. For  example, a one million people city,  or a food pre-processing industry servicing one million consumers,  will produce over 250 mt of food waste daily . On the other hand, e conomic analyses have indicated that minimalist dimensions to make  a  BSF protein  factory  sustainable begin at  sizes  as low as 40-80 mt of food waste per day. G reat prospects  now exist for mutually beneficial symbios is  between cities as little as 300,000  inhabitants and sustainable BSF factories.

Finally , the future of the BSF protein industry  also  depends on  its  environmental footprint. I t was shown that BSF protein has  the lowest consumption of freshwater  relative  to  other methods of producing feed- grade protein , and also  the  lowest  GHG footprint  relative to  other methods  of recycling food waste.  For all these reasons, the  BSF  protein  industry is  only  at the cusp of its potential as a global commodity and predicted to grow at an accelerated pace in the next decade.