Strengthening insect-based agriculture: Resolving key knowledge gaps on insect welfare, safety and gut health benefits of insect products
In the past ten years, the production of insects upcycling organic wastes into high-quality biomass has gone from fiction to reality in Europe. Several of the main players leading this industrial revolution and exporting their knowhow to other parts of the world are headquartered close to Flanders: Innovafeed (Nesle), Agronutris (Rethel), Ynsect (Amiens), Protix (Bergen op Zoom). To date, these four companies have atracted an estimated €1.1 billion of investment capital1, and their production capacity is growing rapidly. Flanders is strategically positioned to harness this emerging source of regionally produced biomass, aligning with the objectives outlined in its "Protein Strategy 2030" aimed at enhancing the sustainability of its protein production system. To do this responsibly, a number of key societal concerns on insect well-being during industrial production and the safety and added value of the end-products have to be addressed. This proposal represents a consortium of the leading Flemish research groups in the field of edible insects working together to resolve several urgent challenges for insect production with direct relevance for multiple potential users. Specific aims: 1. Explore if and how stress in insects can be measured by monitoring insect metabolome and behavior to develop science-based guidelines to score insect welfare (WP1). 2. Fill research gaps on safety of pre-consumer organic waste streams containing microplastics to enable insect feed substrates that do not compete with food or feed production (WP2). 3. Investigate (reduction of) spore-forming food pathogens in insects and support legislation regarding safe microbial limits and hygiene standards to ensure end-product safety (WP3). 4. Identify which bioactive insect fractions drive observed beneficial effects on gut health in farm animals and test how these effects can be beter conserved during processing (WP4).
Results
M1.2: Optimized analytical platform for untargeted entometabolomics
M1.3: Calibration models built/validated for prediction of pH and humidity at a high spatial resolution
M1.4: Models developed and validated based on dataset collected for 8 standard rearing cycles
M1.5: Implementation of the statistical process control techniques for the different features.
D1.1: At least 4 peer reviewed scientific publication containing the results of Tasks 1.2, 1.3 and 1.5
M2.1: Two swill samples are selected to be used as rearing substrate in Task 2.5.
M2.2: Rearing experiments using artificial swill spiked with irregular shaped MPs < 100 µm, spherical
PE < 20 µm and specific additives are executed.
M2.3: Evaluation of the digestive performance of BSFL reared on an organic substrate containing MPs
M2.4: Assays regarding the immune response of BSFL reared on organic substrate containing MPs.
D2.1: At least 3 peer reviewed scientific publication containing the results of Tasks 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4.
D2.2: Report containing advice for the involved sectors.
M3.1: The occurrence of B. cereus (group) and C. perfringens and the endospore-vegetative cell ratio
of both pathogens in commercial swill samples are known.
M3.2: Challenge tests with BSFL on artificial swill containing B. cereus or C. perfringens are executed.
M3.3: The most effective processing method to reduce the prevalence of B. cereus and C. perfringens
for harvested BSFL is known.
D3.1: Two peer reviewed scientific publications containing the results of Task 3.2 and Task 3.3
M4.1: Complete library of 38 differentially-processed insect fractions is generated
M4.2: A subset of bioactive insect fractions is identified by screens for beneficial effects on
microbiome health and resistance to bacterial infection in four production animal models
M4.3: Underlying mechanisms of observed bioactivity are elucidated
D4.1: At least four peer reviewed scientific publications based mainly on results of Task 4.2 and 4.3
D4.2: Most promising candidate insect fractions for development into functional feeds identified
D4.3: Platform for efficient bioactivity screening of putative functional feed ingredients
