The breeding of insects that become food for animals

“We feed insects to produce sustainable proteins”, says the website of the Turin startup BEF Biosystems. No misunderstanding or allusion to the prospect of sitting at the table and eating crickets or grasshoppers. The central theme, as the managing director Beppe Tresso confirms, is that of the circular economy, sustainability and a high protein value for animal food. “We have already been in production for about a year and a half with our Bugsfarm, but we have expanded the first pilot plant in Casal Noceto (AL) and in a few weeks we are preparing to scale up. By the end of 2024 we aim to reach a thousand tons of insect flour per year”, explains Tresso. “We already have a series of contracts and another project in Lazio, in Viterbo”.

The current goal is to create a “circular egg” system. Until proven otherwise, the hens that produce eggs naturally feed on insects, so the idea is to replace the sector’s feed with soldier fly flour (Hermetia illucens) or directly with the relative larvae. “The first result, according to studies conducted in collaboration with the Lazio and Tuscany Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute, is that you contribute to the increase in nutritional and protein intake with a quality food, you reduce the risk of digestive system of hens and even less conflict was found in farms”, adds Tresso.

So far it has been an “alternative” diet theme, but in reality the BEF Biosystems operation also brings into play the recovery of organic vegetable and agro-industrial waste, obviously stabilized and sanitized. “Then there will certainly be another turning point with the future EU legislation which will allow the use of waste from canteens and restaurants”, Tresso points out. This explains the meaning of this circular economy, environmental and food sustainability programme. Considering that 931 million tons of food waste are thrown away every year in the world, having the possibility of putting them back into play to feed hens, but potentially also chickens, fish and pets (with specific croquettes) could be a great advantage. “A 60 gram egg produced by a hen also fed with insect larvae avoids the production of 60 grams of waste and reduces imports of raw materials for a similar weight”, recalls Tresso.

The advantages of a Bugsfarm network

In Bugsfarms – insect farms – photovoltaic greenhouses are used to raise soldier flies and the ability of the larvae to feed on food waste without leaving residues is exploited. From the mature larvae, once transformed, it is possible to obtain protein flour and oil to be used as a food component for animal feed and fertilisers. Not to mention the ongoing studies to extract chitin from the exoskeleton of insects, which is commonly used in the chemical industry, and lauric acid, used for cosmetics.

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It should be emphasized that the ecological footprint of a farm of this type is much lower than any other, both as regards the production of CO₂and for the consumption of water resources. And it is no small fact if we consider the volumes of animal raw materials usually used to feed the over 70 billion farm animals that end up on tables all over the world every year. The CEO of BEF Biosystems explains that the business model aspires to go beyond the direct production of new feed components: it is a strategy that aims at the creation of a widespread network of Bugsfarms with the involvement of the most important and innovative Italian farms and European. “The goal is to create a territorial supply chain capable of recovering organic waste and by-products of a territory by involving the food industries that have waste to be disposed of, the operators for the collection and transformation of these materials, the farms that need to convert the waste in the Bugsfarms and the final customers which are companies that produce feed, agricultural and chemical companies”. In short, it is an advanced model of sharing economy.