Flagship demonstration of industrial-scale production of nutrient resources from mealworms to develop a bioeconomy new generation

The world will face significant challenges in the next few decades, starting with a growing world population by 2050 to 9.7 billion people and an increased standard of living (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2022), thus resulting in a higher demand of animal protein (Alexandratos et al., 2006).

The sustainability of human diets and associated feed and food production systems have been questioned, considering the latter’s negative impact on the environment (Clark, Hill and Tillman, 2018; Meija et al., 2018; Food and Agriculture Organization, 2022).

Insects have come into focus as potential sources of alternative proteins in recent years due to their nutritional composition (Nowak et al., 2014) and a lesser environmental impact compared to other conventional livestock production systems (Oonincx and De Boer, 2012; Van Huis, 2012), resulting from reduced needs in water, arable land and low ecological costs (Oonincx and De Boer, 2012). However, challenges related to technology, the potential use of organic side streams as feed, genetic improvement and disease management must be overcome to achieve successful large-scale insect farming.

The FarmŸng project

Coordinated by Ÿnsect¹, Farmÿng aims to develop the breeding and transformation of insects for animal nutrition on an industrial and automated scale. To that end, partners wish to demonstrate a large-scale, first-of-its-kind bio-based value chain producing sustainable, safe and premium feed products from the Tenebrio molitor insect (yellow mealworm). ŸnFarm, the industrial unit resulting from the action, has been designed and built to use the efficiency of mealworm physiology to convert vegetal by-products in mealworm biomass and process those mealworms into sustainable proteins and lipids for fish feed and pet food end markets. In parallel, manure is recovered for soil fertilisation applications. Beyond the construction of the vertical farm itself, the initiative addresses core subjects crucial for successfully implementing sustainable insect mass production—from genetics to quality, as well as biology and diet.

Why the Tenebrio molitor?

A species of the darkling beetle, Tenebrio molitor is a pest of grain products. It goes through four life stages: egg, larva (yellow mealworm), pupa and adult. It also gained more positive recognition due to its potential use as an alternative feed and/or food protein source. Indeed, the insect presents a good nutritional value, especially regarding protein and fat content (Nowak et al., 2014), essential amino acids (Rumpold and Schlüter, 2013) and digestibility levels (Yoo et al., 2018). Depending on the type of diet, said nutritional value may be optimised to reach an even higher protein/lower fat content of the larvae (Li et al., 2012). Furthermore, the use of insect frass as fertiliser is part of an environment-friendly, sustainable logic. Last, as a non-flying insect common across the globe, its mass production poses fewer logistic constraints than that of other flying insects.

FarmŸng achievements

Construction and launch of Europe’s largest insect vertical farm

Ÿnsect completed the building of Europe’s largest insect vertical farm. ŸnFarm is a 45,000-square-metre, 36-metre-high industrial plant dedicated to the breeding, rearing and processing of Tenebrio molitor into high-quality, sustainable products (Ÿnsect, 2023). Entomology experts, food engineers and automated production technology specialists worked together to successfully balance the biological constraints of the yellow mealworm with production at an industrial scale, achieving vertical farming in trays, automated sorting and intralogistics, and accurate management of temperature and humidity conditions (Ÿnsect, 2023) among other features.

Chromosome-scale assembly of the yellow mealworm genome

The mass production of Tenebrio molitor requires good management of the genetic resources of the farmed populations. In this context, the CEA Genoscope² and Ÿnsect were meant to assess the current strain’s genetic potential and apply the best breeding strategy to increase its robustness and performance and avoid classical problems due to genetic diversity loss. Their collaboration resulted in the construction of a high-quality reference genome of Tenebrio molitor, with a high completeness of the sequence assembly of 287.9 Mb and a good prediction of 21 435 genes with a median size of 1780 bp (Eleftheriou et al., 2022). The genome was obtained thanks to the combination of Oxford Nanopore and Illumina Hi-C data, completed by RNA-seq data and available coleoptera proteomes for gene prediction with GMOVE. This result will likely be exploited in further research and insect breeding for genetic improvement. The population studies also carried out for the project show that the risk of genetic drift is low on farms, while the potential for boosting the mealworm strain to be produced in ŸnFarm is significant through a tailored breeding strategy.

Tenebrio molitor diet optimisation in an industrial context

Developing ideal diets to support and optimise insect growth is one of the main hurdles for mass insect production, especially when it comes to reaching efficient, cost-effective and sustainable production (Jensen et al., 2017; Heckmann et al., 2018). The best diet must balance the nutritional requirements, be tailored to the different life stages, and maximise adult reproductive performance (Jensen et al., 2017). The project coordinator designed optimal diets and supplements to maximise the physiological and economic performance of the Tenebrio molitor rearing on an industrial scale. Four standard diets have been defined, and one more is for the ramp-up stage. These diets may be adapted to the feedstock market without a negative impact on performance thanks to the use of diet formulation software relying on the mealworm’s specific requirements. In addition, a tailored premix has been defined in collaboration with MG2MIX³ to provide the necessary vitamins and minerals and the lacking amino acids that complete the mealworm diet.

Development of methods for the quality, safety and purity assessment of insect-based products

The Walloon Agricultural Research Centre⁴ (CRA-W) and Eurofins⁵ have brought their respective expertise to support Ÿnsect in developing quality control methods to analyse the nutritional composition, assess the safety levels and verify the authenticity of insect-based products. First, building on work about Tenebrio molitor (Debode et al., 2017) and Hermetia illucens (Marien et al., 2018), partners pursued the development of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection methods for insects authorised in animal feed, expanding to other insect species: Alphitobius diaperinus (Marien et al., 2022), Acheta domesticus (Jilkova et al., 2024), Bombyx mori (Marien et al., 2024) and Gryllus assimilis⁶. It resulted in the successful testing of methods meeting the minimum performance requirement and demonstrated the mislabelling of a few products on the market (Marien et al., 2022; Marien et al., 2024). CRA-W and Eurofins also developed a DNA barcode-based method for identification of non-targeted species.

In addition, partners compared several methods for assessing the chitin content of insect-based products. Indeed, this polysaccharide found in the exoskeleton of arthropods may contribute to the overestimation of protein content and may be valorised as a valuable molecule in various industries such as food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. They also produced near infrared (NIR) calibration models to predict the chemical composition of insect-based products (moisture, protein, fat, cellulose and chitin⁷), transferrable to other organisations to use on similar products, and implementation in an industrial context⁸. Lastly, various microbiological methods have been verified for insect-based feed products to be used for quality control.

Production of a natural insect-based fertiliser

Beyond protein meal and oil production, Farmÿng contributes to the circular bioeconomy through the valorisation of its side streams. After four years of research in collaboration with research institutes⁹ to develop a natural fertiliser and study its impact on crops and soils, Ÿnsect was issued approval for its natural insect fertiliser ŸnFrass by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES, n.d.). Ÿnsect thus became the first company in the world to obtain certification and marketing approval for a natural insect-based fertiliser. It is derived from dejections—or frass from Tenebrio molitor, which feeds on cereal by-products. Its well-balanced nutrient composition (NPK ratio 4-3-2) and its quick mineralisation makes mealworm frass suitable for application on any crop (vegetables, orchards, ornamental, vineyard and cereals) and can be as effective as a conventional fertiliser (Houben et al., 2020; Houben et al.,2021). Unlike conventional fertilisers, mealworm frass has a high organic matter content (around 80 per cent) and composition that has the ability to increase soil microbial activity and maintain soil functional diversity (Houben et al., 2021).

Beyond Farmÿng

The action is still ongoing; full implementation would be a success in itself. Nonetheless, the initiative is part of a bigger development of the insect industry as a whole. Farmÿng focuses on the yellow mealworm as an alternative protein source for fish feed and pet food, but the regulatory environment has evolved beyond these two markets in recent years.

Indeed, the European Commission (EC) authorised, through Regulation 2021/1372, seven insect species as processed animal proteins (PAP) for pig and poultry feed (Tenebrio molitor included) in 2021, thus opening the way for new feed markets. Furthermore, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) produced eight positive opinions on edible insects as novel food between 2021 and 2024 (EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens, 2021a– d, 2022a–b, 2023, 2024), resulting in six novel food authorisations in the recent past. Last, there also were positive developments in EC regulation regarding insect frass. Before November 2021, the product’s legal status remained uncertain across member states since Regulation 1069/2009 on animal-by-product did not offer a definition. Since then, Regulation 2021/1925 defining standards for the production and placing on the market of insect frass as organic fertiliser entered into force, thus setting European standards for insect frass.

The broadening of the EU regulatory framework in just a few years is symptomatic of a wider place for insects in human food systems in the near future. These changes can foster the progress of the insect industry, along with close cooperation between academia, governmental organisations and public society (Van Huis, 2022). As some researchers recently commented, the future is crawling indeed (Sogari et al., 2023).

Footnotes

A French company specialised in the rearing and processing of yellow mealworm to produce insect-based sustainable ingredients.
Genoscope is the French National Sequencing Centre. Initially involved in the sequencing of the human genome, the centre has now moved on to environmental genomics. Genoscope is part of the CEA, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission.
MG2MIX is an independent French company specialising in the manufacture of premixes essential to animal nutrition.
A Belgian research organisation. The centre maintains and develops scientific knowledge, skills and excellence for the sustainable development of the agriculture and the agrifood sector.
A French laboratory network providing analytical methods to study the safety, identity, purity, composition, authenticity and origin of biological products and substances.
Upcoming scientific publication.
ADF: acid detergent fibre. ADL: acid detergent lignin.
One upcoming scientific publication.
RITTMO, centre for applied research, consultancy and technical services regarding fertilisers and agro-environment; UniLaSalle Polytechnic Institute; Vitinnov project at the National School of Agricultural Engineering, Bordeaux Sciences Agro.

References

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PROJECT NAME

FlAgship demonstration of industrial scale production of nutrient Resources from Mealworms to develop a bioeconomY New Generation

PROJECT SUMMARY

Farmÿng will demonstrate a large-scale, first-of-its-kind bio-based value chain producing sustainable and premium feed ingredients from an innovative origin: the Tenebrio molitor larvae. Farmÿng will expand the technology from demo plant to industrial plant level to process them into proteins and lipids for fish feed and pet food end markets. Manure will be recovered for soil fertilisation applications.

PROJECT PARTNERS

Coordinated by Ÿnsect, Farmÿng aims to develop on an industrial and automated scale the breeding and processing of insects for the production of animal nutrition. The project benefits from the strong participation of several key actors all along the value chain, from the feedstock supply to the final insect transformation.

PROJECT LEAD PROFILE

A French company founded in 2011 by four scientists and environmental activists, thanks to extensive insect farming expertise, research experience and the building of two vertical farms, Ÿnsect contributes to creating a new industry based on the exceptional properties of the mealworms, combined with cutting-edge technology, to produce natural, healthy and sustainable ingredients.

PROJECT CONTACTS

Whitley Kihanguila

207 Rue de Bercy, 75012, Paris, FRANCE
Email: whitley.kihanguila@ynsect.com
Website: www.farmyng.eu/
Instagram: /farmyng.eu
LinkedIn: farmyng/
X: @FARMYNG_EU

FUNDING

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 837750.