From the larvae of soldier flies a new product capable of creating value for companies and territories
By Andrea Begnini
Declining the themes of the2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) increasingly touches on business planning. In these new business models, strategies to reduce food waste and to use circular resources become central. Innovative strategies such as using plant organic material waste to feed specific flies that innovative Turin-based biotechnology company BEF Biosystems breeds to produce sustainable proteins. All through a process that is as fascinating as it is virtuous to create cosmetics, animal feed and projects that combine the circular economy with cutting-edge 4.0 technology.
From vegetable waste collection a food for fly larvae
In the beginning, it is organic plant waste from a variety of farms: mainly fruit and vegetable scraps or residual waste from brewing that is turned into a highly nutritious mash for fly larvae. But the choice of the type of fly is not random, as Marco Meneguz, an entomologist with a doctorate on the soldier fly Hermetia illucens to his credit and head of the research, explains: “The soldier fly unlike other types of flies does not feed when it is an adult and therefore cannot transmit diseases. Moreover, from a nutritional point of view, its larvae are chemically composed of highly digestible short-chain proteins and a fatty part containing lauric acid that has antimicrobial properties.”
Realize in the territory Bugsfarm organized in a local network
These farms aimed at themating and reproduction of soldier flies are the functional elements in the creation of sustainable and participatory agro-industrial supply chains. In fact, the eggs laid by the flies, as soon as they become larvae, are placed in the vegetable mash obtained from the waste, which for the next 14 days will provide them with nourishment making their volume increase in this short period of time by as much as thirty times. At the end of this bioconversion process, the larvae become for all intents and purposes, including under European legislation, a raw material and can therefore be sold alive or in turn processed.
With a provision of the Ministry of Health, from September 2023 Italy was in fact the first nation in Europe to allow the sale of live larvae to be used in the feeding of farm animals such as fish, poultry or pigs. Alternatively, the larvae can be processed and treated as if they were seeds to obtain, on the one hand, a protein meal also intended for animal feed and, on the other hand , a fatty part used in cosmetics.
Healthier and more productive hens with circular egg. And on the fatty side, skin wellness
For BEF Biosystems, putting the land at the center of the new insect breeding supply chain means reducing food waste, waste generation and resource use for moving waste, with a noticeable impact onCO2 production. As well as making animal feed more sustainable at the same time and feeding the world of tomorrow. Marco Meneguz further explains, “We are working on a project called the Circular Egg which aims to feed laying hens with live soldier fly larvae from our farms. Scientific studies have shown that in this way there is a better quality of hen health: by improving their intestinal microflora, productivity is increased, especially in older hens. In addition, the eggs take on a more intense red color from an organoleptic point of view, and from a nutritional point of view there has been a significant increase in protein.”
The fatty part is mainly intended for cosmetics and is used to create body products due to the presence of fibroblasts, cells characteristic of connective tissue that promote a regenerative effect on the skin.
A circular vocation, from waste to frass
With 31 machines that can process up to 1,000 tons of waste input, BEF Biosystems is thus able to put a large amount of waste back into the production circuit that would otherwise go to waste.
“Ours is for all intents and purposes full-cycle farming, which means that within the same farm, we find all stages of it. Ours is also a production system with high and continuous technological evolution. We have created a modular system that allows the operator to never come into direct contact with the flies, through the use of a whole series of patented high-innovation machinery with 4.0 technology, also designed to minimize energy consumption and ensure the best environmental conditions for this fly species.”
But the company’s circular and sustainable vocation extends to the so-called frass, i.e., the residue derived from the larvae bioconversion process, composed of undigested food, droppings and exoskeleton residues. Again, the residue is not wasted but sold and reused as fertilizer.
