As natural decomposers, insects can successfully transform organic waste. Large scale insect production is based on by-products from the agri-food industry which otherwise would be discarded or underexploited. The amino acid profile of insects corresponds to the dietary needs of fish, poultry or swine animals. Especially also regarding amino acids such as lysine, threonine, methionine, and tryptophan which are limiting factors in animal feed.
Processed protein from insect belongs legally to the group of animal proteins. Its use is currently not permitted in livestock feed. The feed legislation does not apply for the feeding of live insects. As this is not a processed feed, it can be assumed that the feeding of live insects or insect larvae is possible.
In this video two FiBL feeding trials on laying hens on both processed and live insect larvae are presented. The video was created within the EU project OK-Net EcoFeed.
Further information
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Links
- youtube.com: Video "Feeding Insects for Organic Layers"
- ok-net-ecofeed.eu: Website of the EU-project OK-Net EcoFeed