- Feb 5, 2002
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There’s been a lot of talk in the media over the last few years about insect protein, whether used in fake beef, protein bars, or other processed applications, but a startup in the UK has come up with a way to integrate bugs into the food supply chain in a way that not only cuts emissions, but doesn’t upset the stomach.
The now 9-year-old start-up Entocycle uses bugs to replace corn, soy, and fishmeal as high-quality animal feed for pigs and chickens.
Of the major meat sources around the world, chickens and pigs are known in the industry as ‘monogastrics’ meaning they have one stomach as compared with other meat sources like beef, sheep, and goat, which are ruminants, meaning they have several stomachs.
Ruminants eat only grass, roughage, and other vegetable material, but while chickens and pigs have been fed corn, soy, and other agricultural products for years, bugs would have made up an important and large part of their natural diets, especially for the latter, which were domesticated from tropical jungle fowl we must remember.
At Entocycle’s London development facility, thousands of black soldier fly larvae are turned into protein feed for pigs and chickens. This species of fly will eat almost any wasted food, making insect farming a double whammy for environmental waste management, as it offers the potential to divert food scraps from the landfills where they would normally generate methane, a potent, albeit short-lived, greenhouse gas.
Continued below.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
The now 9-year-old start-up Entocycle uses bugs to replace corn, soy, and fishmeal as high-quality animal feed for pigs and chickens.
Of the major meat sources around the world, chickens and pigs are known in the industry as ‘monogastrics’ meaning they have one stomach as compared with other meat sources like beef, sheep, and goat, which are ruminants, meaning they have several stomachs.
Ruminants eat only grass, roughage, and other vegetable material, but while chickens and pigs have been fed corn, soy, and other agricultural products for years, bugs would have made up an important and large part of their natural diets, especially for the latter, which were domesticated from tropical jungle fowl we must remember.
At Entocycle’s London development facility, thousands of black soldier fly larvae are turned into protein feed for pigs and chickens. This species of fly will eat almost any wasted food, making insect farming a double whammy for environmental waste management, as it offers the potential to divert food scraps from the landfills where they would normally generate methane, a potent, albeit short-lived, greenhouse gas.
Continued below.
Insect Farm Hatches Plan for Greener Animal Feed for Chickens and Pigs
Bugs would have made up an important and large part of their natural diets, especially for chickens which are essentially tropical jungle fowl
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
