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Beynen AC, 2018. Insect-based petfood

  • September 2018
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Anton Beynen
Anton Beynen
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Abstract

Insect-based petfood In Europe, at least 12 insect-based, complete dry dog foods are marketed (Note 1). The first one was launched in 2015 (1). The foods traceably contain preparations of black-soldier fly larvae or yellow meal worms, but their ingredient lists often leave the insect species unnamed. All 12 foods are positioned as hypoallergenic, while 8 of them also highlight insects' sustainability. The array comes along with one canned product and two dry cat foods. Insects purportedly carry novel, previously uneaten protein which minimizes the risk to an allergenic response. However, all petfoods unavoidably and legally have small amounts of insect matter. Cats with outdoor access catch insects as prey. Treats with various insect species are increasingly hitting the market. The efficacy of insect-based petfood in treating true food allergy is unknown, but equally the condition is uncommon, implying little need for hypoallergenic foods (2). Insect protein is claimed to be sustainable. In terms of global warming potential, the farming of insects is less harmful than that of meat chickens, but more so than crop production. On average, the 12 insect-based dry foods contain about 20% insect preparation, while 9 foods also contain other animal-derived ingredients. Not only does complete vegetarian petfood (3) exclude meat-animal exploitation, but it also is eco-friendlier than insect-based petfoods. There is limited published information on insects as petfood component. Protein quality and digestibility of black-soldier fly larvae and yellow meal worms are adequate. Foods with the insect sources are consumed willingly. Short-term feeding tests did not elicit negative effects on visible health of dogs and cats. Apparently, practical use of insect-based foods is without adverse events, but long-term safety awaits confirmation. Composition Whole larvae of the black-soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) and the yellow-mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor), or BSFL and YMW for short, have variable compositions. The crude protein and fat contents are 41 to 56 and 15 to 36 % in the dry matter (4-9). For puppies and kittens, the sum of methionine and cystine reflects the limiting amino acid in the two larvae species (6, 7). Lauric acid (C12:0) represents about 40% of total fatty acids in BSFL (5), but less than 0.2% in YMW (4). Analysis of dried and partially defatted BSFL and YMW preparations used as petfood ingredients reveals around 60% crude protein, 15% crude fat and 10% crude fiber, but between-batch variation is considerable. Roughly half of the crude-fiber analyte could constitute chitin (5), but the N-acetylglucosamine polymer contributes little to the crude protein value. Digestibility In-vitro digestibility of protein in whole BSFL and YMW was 88.7 and 91.9% (6, 9), while the undigested residue appeared poorly fermentable by dog feces as microbiota source (9). Feces of dogs fed a BSFL-containing diet had increased chitin concentrations (10). For extruded foods with
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Creature Companion 2018: September: 40-41.
Anton C. Beynen
Insect-based petfood
In Europe, at least 12 insect-based, complete dry dog foods are marketed (Note 1). The first one
was launched in 2015 (1). The foods traceably contain preparations of black-soldier fly larvae or
yellow meal worms, but their ingredient lists often leave the insect species unnamed. All 12 foods
are positioned as hypoallergenic, while 8 of them also highlight insects’ sustainability. The array
comes along with one canned product and two dry cat foods.
Insects purportedly carry novel, previously uneaten protein which minimizes the risk to an
allergenic response. However, all petfoods unavoidably and legally have small amounts of insect
matter. Cats with outdoor access catch insects as prey. Treats with various insect species are
increasingly hitting the market. The efficacy of insect-based petfood in treating true food allergy is
unknown, but equally the condition is uncommon, implying little need for hypoallergenic foods (2).
Insect protein is claimed to be sustainable. In terms of global warming potential, the farming of
insects is less harmful than that of meat chickens, but more so than crop production. On average,
the 12 insect-based dry foods contain about 20% insect preparation, while 9 foods also contain
other animal-derived ingredients. Not only does complete vegetarian petfood (3) exclude meat-
animal exploitation, but it also is eco-friendlier than insect-based petfoods.
There is limited published information on insects as petfood component. Protein quality and
digestibility of black-soldier fly larvae and yellow meal worms are adequate. Foods with the insect
sources are consumed willingly. Short-term feeding tests did not elicit negative effects on visible
health of dogs and cats. Apparently, practical use of insect-based foods is without adverse events,
but long-term safety awaits confirmation.
Composition
Whole larvae of the black-soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) and the yellow-mealworm beetle (Tenebrio
molitor), or BSFL and YMW for short, have variable compositions. The crude protein and fat contents
are 41 to 56 and 15 to 36 % in the dry matter (4-9). For puppies and kittens, the sum of methionine
and cystine reflects the limiting amino acid in the two larvae species (6, 7). Lauric acid (C12:0)
represents about 40% of total fatty acids in BSFL (5), but less than 0.2% in YMW (4).
Analysis of dried and partially defatted BSFL and YMW preparations used as petfood ingredients
reveals around 60% crude protein, 15% crude fat and 10% crude fiber, but between-batch variation
is considerable. Roughly half of the crude-fiber analyte could constitute chitin (5), but the N-
acetylglucosamine polymer contributes little to the crude protein value.
Digestibility
In-vitro digestibility of protein in whole BSFL and YMW was 88.7 and 91.9% (6, 9), while the
undigested residue appeared poorly fermentable by dog feces as microbiota source (9). Feces of
dogs fed a BSFL-containing diet had increased chitin concentrations (10). For extruded foods with
partially defatted BSFL or YMW, each accounting for about 30% of total dietary protein, apparent
digestibilities of crude protein were 83.9 and 83.6% of intake in dogs and 79.8 and 80.4% in cats (11).
When dogs (12, 13) and cats (14) were switched to a formula with YMW as almost exclusive protein
source, the owners did not note changes in feces consistency. For dogs fed commercial dry foods
based on either lamb meal or BSFL, fecal scores differed statistically, but not meaningfully (10).
Palatability
Free-ranging wolves (15) and feral cats (16) consume insects, the latter on average 1 weight% of
their diet. Insects not only make up almost 1% of the animals brought home by British domestic cats
(17), but are eaten also (18). Dogs seem to enjoy eating live BSFL (19) and dried mealworms (20) and
were equally attracted towards olfactory cues from either commercial dry food, dried whole BSFL or
YMW (21). In two-bowl preference tests, the intake ratio of dry foods with BSFL or YMW was about
60:40 in dogs and 40:60 in cats (11). Changing over dogs and cats to BSFL- or YMW-based, dry foods
went smoothly (11, 12-14).
Owner acceptance
Forty six out of 50 pet owners gave positive feedback after learning they had been feeding an insect-
based diet. Negative feelings, due to insect phobia and safety concerns, would be dropped for
veterinary-prescribed diets with insects (22). Veterinarians seem interested in insect-based food as
hypoallergenic alternative (23).
Safety
Insect-based, complete petfoods are on the market for up to three years. So far no health risks have
been reported. YMW- and BSFL-containing diets did not negatively affect apparent pet health in
studies lasting 28 (12-14) or 42 days (10), but clinical chemistry measurements were not done. An
oral dose of 2.5 g cricket powder/kg bodyweight did not produce adverse effects in dogs (24). The
impact of insect consumption on health in the long term is unknown. Insects might hold toxicants,
either self-synthesized or derived from their feed substrates.
Sustainability
When at the farm gate, YMW (25) and BSFL (26) have emitted less greenhouse gas per kg live weight
than chicken, pork or beef (27), but more than one kg of corn (28) or soybean (29) (Note 2). The
ranking could persist after the processing toward isonitrogenous, dry protein concentrates for use as
petfood ingredients. However, fair comparisons require calculations that allow not only for
transportation and processing, but also for land use (change), energy efficiency, water pollution, co-
products and their applications.
Note 1
Overview of insect-based, complete dry dog foods
Brand name
Product name
Insect
% I
Hypo
Sust
% CP
Kibble type
Trovet
IPD^
1, BSFL
nd
+
+
+, a
21.0
extruded
Virbac
Hypoallergy^
2, YMW
≥
30
+
-
+, b
26.0
extruded
Sanimed
Intestinal^
3, YMW*
13
+
-
+, c
24.5
extruded
Josera
Insect Dog
4,
BSFL
*
10
+
+
-
22.0
extruded
Bellfor
Naturgut
-
Schmaus
5, BSFL
nd
+
+
+, d
22.0
pressed
Entoma
Natural Dog Food
6, BSFL
nd
+
+
+, e
22.3
extruded
BugsforPets
New Generation
7, BSFL
26
+
+
+, f
22.0
pressed
Meravital
Insect Pro^
8, BSFL
22
+
-
+, g
22.0
extruded
Dogreform
Insect & Lecker
9, BSFL
14
+
+
+, h
29.0
extruded
Tierliebhaber
Insektenkraft
10, BSFL
14
+
+
-
28.0
extruded
Vet
-
Concept
Dog Sana Hermetia^
11, BSFL
32
+
-
+, i
24.6
extruded
Eat Small
Wald
12, BSFL
30
+
+
-
25.0
extruded
^Marketed as veterinary diets
Insect = insect species as ingredient; information is based on brochures, websites, articles and, in
two cases*, personal communication. 1-12 = insect description in ingredient list; BSFL = black-soldier
fly larvae; YMW = yellow mealworms; % I = declared percentage of insect ingredient; nd = not
declared; Hypo = hypoallergenic claim; Sust = sustainability claim; Anim = declared animal
ingredient(s) other than insect; a-i = description of the animal ingredient(s); % CP = declared
percentage of crude protein
1, insect meal; 2, insect protein; 3, dehydrated insect; 4, insects; 5, insects; 6, Hermetia illucens; 7,
dried insects; 8, insect protein; 9, protein-rich insect meal (Hermetia illucens); 10, insect protein
from Hermetia larvae; 11, insects (protein meal Hermetia illucens); 12, Hermetia illucens meal
a, poultry fat, fish oil; b, animal fats, hydrolysed pork liver; c, poultry fat, fish oil, hydrolysed chicken
liver; d, animal fats, salmon oil; e, animal fats, salmon oil; f, animal fat, salmon oil; g, salmon oil; h,
mussel flesh meal; i, oils and fats (the latter presumably is animal-derived)
Note 2
Global warming potential (GWP) is an index of the amount of heat trapped by greenhouse gasses
(CO2, NO2, CH4) in the atmosphere. GWP is expressed as kg CO2-equivalents (eq) per kg of product
during its life cycle. The table lists the calculated GWPs of partly and conditionally interchangeable
ingredients for dry petfood
GWP/kg product
GWP/kg
proteinª
Ref
Product
%DM
√
%CP^
As is
~
Dry*
29
Soybean
88
41
0.45
0.5
1.2
28
Corn
86
10
0.4 +
0.5
5.0
26
Black
-
soldier fly larvae
38
42
1.9 +#
5.0
12
25
Yellow mealworms
38
53
2.7
+
7.1
13
27
Chicken
35
54
6.6
–
12 +
27
50
27
Pork
51
24
7.4
–
19 +
26
108
27
Beef
51
31
32
–
74 +
104
335
~GWP as is (live/fresh weight) values are derived from the references.  GWP refers to soybean
produced in Latin America and exported to Europe, without considering land-use change
(deforestation); + Cradle-to-farm gate GWP
√DM = dry matter; *GWP/kg dry product = 100/%DM x GWP as is. For the meaty products, GWP dry
values concern the halfway points of ranges for GWP as is.
^CP = crude protein in DM. ªGWP/kg protein = 100/%CP x GWP dry
# Based on data in Ref 26. BSFL contained 42% protein and 35% fat in DM. GWP for protein = 2.1 kg
CO2 eq/kg. GWP for fat = 2.9 kg CO2 eq/kg. BSF were grown on food waste for which transportation
was taken into account, but not production. For YMW, 56% of the GWP related to production and
transport of feed (25). Noteworthily, in the European Union, waste streams such as catering
leftovers and manure are prohibited as feedstuffs for insects.
For the production of dry petfood, defatted, dry meals are the main protein carriers. Thus, the
environmental impact of the 7 products in the table should be compared after they have been
processed toward isonitrogenous, dry protein concentrates. However, such comparison is not
straightforward as many factors play a role (30, 31). For instance, calculated greenhouse emission
for South American soybean growing is much greater when associated deforestation is taken into
account (29). Rendered animal protein meals in petfood are derived from slaughter byproducts. In
this respect, economic allocation is commonly employed (27). In doing so, the total environmental
impact is redistributed between the co-products based on their relative economic values.
Concerning slaughter meats and by-products, that approach is debatable (32).
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ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Do insects smell attractive to dogs? A comparison of dog reactions to insects and commercial feed aromas - A preliminary study
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A 60-70% increase in consumption of animal products is expected by 2050. This increase in the consumption will demand enormous resources, the feed being the most challenging because of the limited availability of natural resources, ongoing climatic changes and food-feed-fuel competition. The costs of conventional feed resources such as soymeal and fishmeal are very high and moreover their availability in the future will be limited. Insect rearing could be a part of the solutions. Although some studies have been conducted on evaluation of insects, insect larvae or insect meals as an ingredient in the diets of some animal species, this field is in infancy. Here we collate, synthesize and discuss the available information on five major insect species studied with respect to evaluation of their products as animal feed. The nutritional quality of black soldier fly larvae, the house fly maggots, mealworm, locusts-grasshoppers-crickets, and silkworm meal and their use as a replacement of soymeal and fishmeal in the diets of poultry, pigs, fish species and ruminants are discussed. The crude protein contents of these alternate resources are high: 42 to 63% and so are the lipid contents (up to 36% oil), which could possibly be extracted and used for various applications including biodiesel production. Unsaturated fatty acid concentrations are high in housefly maggot meal, mealworm and house cricket (60-70%), while their concentrations in black soldier fly larvae are lowest (19-37%). The studies have confirmed that palatability of these alternate feeds to animals is good and they can replace 25 to 100% of soymeal or fishmeal depending on the animal species. Except silkworm meal other insect meals are deficient in methionine and lysine and their supplementation in the diet can enhance both the performance of the animals and the soymeal and fishmeal replacement rates. Most insect meals are deficient in Ca and its supplementation in the diet is also required, especially for growing animals and laying hens. The levels of Ca and fatty acids in insect meals can be enhanced by manipulation of the substrate on which insects are reared. The paper also presents future areas of research. The information synthesized is expected to open new avenues for a large scale use of insect products as animal feed.
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Comparing Environmental Impacts from Insects for Feed and Food as an Alternative to Animal Production
Chapter
  • May 2018
This chapter systematically compares and contrasts the known environmental impacts of traditional vertebrate animal production with insect production intended for both food and animal feed. There are major physiological and biological differences between traditional livestock species and insects, which often translate into lower environmental impacts from insect production. However, insect production systems are still in their infancy and there are still major improvements to be made. Based on our analysis, the greatest potential of insects is the prospect of feeding them various kinds of waste products from agriculture, industry and households. This chapter can serve as a reference guide for future research into the environmental impacts of insects for food and feed.
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In vitro digestibility and fermentability of selected insects for dog foods
Article
Insects are considered as a sustainable protein source for future pet foods. Here we aimed to evaluate the protein quality of larvae of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens, BSF), housefly (Musca domestica, HF) and yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor, YMW) and to evaluate the fermentation characteristics of their indigestible fractions. Clean freeze-dried larvae were subjected to in vitro simulated canine gastric and small intestinal digestion. Undigested insect residues, shrimp chitin and fructooligosaccharides (positive control, FOS) were incubated for 48 h with inoculum with fresh feces from three dogs simulating large intestinal fermentation. The AA profiles differed among the larvae with proteins from BSF and YMW larvae containing more Val and less Met and Lys than HF larvae. The in vitro N digestibility of the HF (93.3%) and YMW (92.5%) was higher than BSF larvae (87.7%). The BSF larvae also had lower in vitro digestibility values for essential AA (92.4%) and non-essential AA (90.5%) compared to the larvae of the HF (96.6 and 96.5%) and YMW (96.9 and 95.3%). Gas production for FOS increased rapidly during the first 6 h. Low and similar amounts of gas were found for HF larvae and chitin whereas gas production slowly increased over 30 h and was slightly higher at 48 h for BSF than for chitin. Gas production for YMW increased considerably between 6 and 20 h. At 48 h, gas produced for undigested residues was comparable to shrimp chitin and lower than FOS (P < 0.001). Incubation with insect residues resulted in more N-acetylglucosamine than with shrimp chitin (P < 0.05), suggesting higher microbial degradation of insect chitin. Fecal microbiota from one dog appeared to be better able to ferment the undigested residue of YMW as gas production increased considerably between 6 and 20 h of incubation and was higher than for the microbiota from the other two dogs. The associated metabolite profile indicated that acetate, propionate and butyrate were the main fermentation products. Furthermore, formate was produced in relatively high amounts. It is concluded that the protein quality, based on the amino acid profile and digestibility, of selected insect larvae was high with the undigested insect fractions being at least partly fermented by the dog fecal microbiota. As the microbiota from one dog was better capable of fermenting the undigested residue of YMW larvae, it is of interest to further study the selective growth of intestinal microbiota in dogs fed insect-based food.
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Environmental impact of food waste bioconversion by insects: Application of Life Cycle Assessment to process using Hermetia illucens
Article
Food waste management strategies are mainly focused on waste minimization, but the search for new solutions to waste valorization is also a viable and potentially advantageous alternative. In this context, the aim of this study is to assess the potential environmental impacts of food-waste bioconversion into compost and dried larvae through the action of Hermetia illucens, by applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). In international scientific literature, there are many studies concerning the utilization of insects for food-waste bioconversion, but very few articles relate to the application of LCA in this sector and none of these refers to Hermetia illucens. Furthermore, the process of bioconversion through Hermetia illucens is a very attractive option, considering that it represents a potential valuable solution to two problems: food waste management on the one hand and, on the other, the rising global demand for feed (dried larvae can be used in aquaculture feed production) or the competition between land use for energy crops and for food crops (dried larvae are a fat-rich resource potentially usable for the production of biodiesel). In particular, the LCA results presented in this study refer to the assessment of the potential environmental impacts of a pilot plant in which H. illucens is employed for food-waste treatment. From 10 tonnes of food-waste input, 300 kg of dried larvae and 3,346 kg of compost are produced. Three different functional units were used to carry out the analysis: the input of the production process, therefore 1) food-waste; the output composed of dried larvae, for which 2) the protein content (fundamental characteristic for using this product in aquaculture) and 3) the lipid content (to be used for biodiesel production) are considered. Results related to the functional unit of 1 tonne of food waste treated show a value of 30.2 kg CO2 eq in terms of Global Warming Potential, 215.3 MJ in terms of Energy Use, and 0.661 m2a in terms of Land Use. When compared with alternative sources of raw material for feed or biodiesel, these results show that the most significant benefits of insect production are connected to Land Use, while Energy Use is the main burden, and the estimation of Global Warming Potential is still affected by many uncertainties.
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