Protein Shortage: Are Insects the Solu­tion?

When the Food and Agri­cul­ture Organ­i­sa­tion of the United Nations (FAO) presented its 2019 report, the future prospects were grim: Without alter­na­tive food produc­tion methods or the discovery of new food sources, the scarcity of arable land, water, fish, energy, and forests will pose serious chal­lenges for future gener­a­tions.

A poten­tial solu­tion to these chal­lenges comes from an unex­pected ally – the Black Soldier Fly, scien­tif­i­cally known as Hermetia illu­cens. This 1-2cm insect from the tropics has a vora­cious appetite for organic waste. Within a few weeks, it develops from an egg to a larva and even­tu­ally to the next gener­a­tion of repro­duc­tive soldier flies. The repro­duc­tion rate is enor­mous. From 1g of eggs, 30,000 larvae emerge, rich in vita­mins, protein, and immune-stim­u­lating amino acids.

A profes­sional approach to raising and util­ising this fly could present a signif­i­cant oppor­tu­nity for humanity. Carsten Lind Pedersen and his daughter, Jane Lind Sam, have taken on this chal­lenge. As driving forces and co-owners of Enorm Biofac­tory, they plan to start producing up to 100t of soldier fly larvae per day by the end of this year.

It began with pigs

Father and daughter invite us to their 24,000m² facility on the outskirts of Horsens, Denmark, where 64m soldier flies and several billion “young flies” are cared for by around 60 employees. However, the story doesn’t start here, but with pigs.

Carsten, a farmer by profes­sion, has always tried to get the most out of his pigs in various ways: For example, by using the nutri­ents from pig manure for algae produc­tion. His daughter Jane, a grad­uate in media and commu­ni­ca­tion studies, has been involved in many of her father’s projects and frequently accom­pa­nied him on trips abroad. She, too, seeks solu­tions to these chal­lenges. In their search, they even­tu­ally discov­ered the soldier fly, which fasci­nated them because it can feed on manure.

In 2016, they acquired Enorm ApS, a food company that at the time offered seasoned meal­worms as edible prod­ucts. The following year, they founded Enorm Biofac­tory, a produc­tion company, and began constructing a facility for large-scale soldier fly produc­tion.

Carsten explains, “I’m more of a hands-on person who looks for solu­tions. While I under­stand the bene­fits of a spread­sheet, it’s not my preferred working tool.” Jane, on the other hand, heads the finance and admin­is­tra­tion depart­ment and is respon­sible for appli­ca­tions, permits, and all admin­is­tra­tive tasks.

The long-standing part­ner­ship between father and daughter runs smoothly, they empha­sise with a wink. The divi­sion of tasks between them is clearly struc­tured, and they even comple­ment each other’s state­ments.

Food often doesn’t make it to the plate

Both share their enthu­siasm for the Black Soldier Fly and are happy to talk about it. They start by noting that 30-40% of our food produc­tion never reaches our plates. The most straight­for­ward solu­tion would be to process food waste in a biogas plant to generate heat and fertiliser. However, Carsten and Jane have a different view. They opt for a smarter solu­tion.

They feed the biomass to their larvae, which process it. The larvae are then ‘harvested’ and processed into protein-rich insect meal and insect oil. This meal and oil is sold to feed pigs, poultry, fish, and other live­stock. The insect faeces, a waste product, is directed to the biogas plant.

“By processing the biomass through the larvae first, we take some­thing that is not nutri­tious enough for pigs but too nutri­tious for biogas and rein­tro­duce it directly into the food chain without long detours,” empha­sises Carsten.

“In essence, we only borrow the biomass for 14 days,” adds Jane. When the waste goes to the biogas plant, there is still poten­tial for gas produc­tion in the insect faeces.

Insects natu­rally require less space and utilise food more effi­ciently than mammals. “It takes 10kg of dry feed to produce 1kg of beef, but you get 9kg of larvae.”

We take some­thing that is not nutri­tious enough for pigs but too nutri­tious for biogas and rein­tro­duce it directly into the food chain without long detours.

Carsten Lind Pedersen

Chal­lenges

While Enorm has received support from researchers, grants, and polit­ical interest, there were also obsta­cles to over­come. One of these is the avail­ability of biomass. “It is clear that there is compe­ti­tion for biomass as it is also used for energy purposes,” says Jane. “This leads to increased produc­tion costs, making larval protein, despite the high effi­ciency of the larvae, not a cheap protein source.”

Despite these chal­lenges, she remains opti­mistic and believes that the biomass issue will resolve itself. This is partly because there is still plenty of biomass avail­able from the food industry and agri­cul­ture. Addi­tion­ally, their expe­ri­ence in building Enorm shows that obsta­cles can be over­come.

For example, the EU has approved eight insect species for the produc­tion of animal protein for feed. Among them is the soldier fly, which thrives partic­u­larly well in moist feed, unlike many other species.

Another chal­lenge is that insects are now clas­si­fied as live­stock and there­fore subject to the same feeding regu­la­tions as tradi­tional live­stock. There­fore, the animal welfare and slaughter regu­la­tions for live­stock, as defined by the Danish Veteri­nary and Food Admin­is­tra­tion, apply. In September 2021, the feeding of poultry and live­stock with insect proteins was finally approved.

“There were many bureau­cratic hurdles and permits that had to be sorted out,” recalls Carsten, who also had to figure out through prac­tical exper­i­men­ta­tion how to set up the entire produc­tion facility. With the support of various compa­nies, researchers, and other stake­holders, the puzzle pieces were put together, and the soldier flies were success­fully estab­lished on the farm.

Inno­v­a­tive solu­tions

Looking to the future, Carsten and Jane hope for an expan­sion of insect produc­tion in Denmark. “I see the possi­bility that insects will be directly inte­grated into our diet in the future, contributing posi­tively to health without the detour through pigs or fish,” explains Jane. However, she also believes that it will take some time to develop the right ingre­di­ents, get them approved as novel foods in the EU, and success­fully inte­grate them into the value chain.

IIn the mean­time, the facility is being ramped up to full capacity to deter­mine whether more than just biolog­ical waste can be intro­duced into the food chain – either directly or indi­rectly. Or as Carsten puts it: “We are always on the hunt for inno­v­a­tive solu­tions.”