Insect meal, single-cell protein and algal ingredients instead of fishmeal and soybean meal in feed

Replaces: fishmeal, (partly) soybean meal · Scope: aquafeed, petfood, pig/poultry · Evidence: high (commercial), partial share

The chemical problem#

• Fishmeal: aquaculture and pig/poultry feeds draw on reduction fisheries (Peruvian anchoveta etc.). Roughly a fifth of the world’s wild catch is ground into meal and oil — a capped, volatile, climate-sensitive supply (El Niño years) that competes with human food use.
• Soybean meal: the protein workhorse, but tied to land conversion in South America, long supply chains, antinutritional factors (trypsin inhibitors, oligosaccharides), and — in several producing countries — formaldehyde treatment against Salmonella, a carcinogen handled in feed plants.
• For import-dependent regions (much of Africa/ME), both are foreign-currency line items; price spikes (2020–2022) hit feed costs directly.

Product overview#

1. Black soldier fly (BSF, Hermetia illucans) larvae: food/agro waste → larvae → defatted meal (55–60 % protein) + oil (lauric, antimicrobial-adjacent) + frass fertilizer. EU-approved in aquafeed (2017), pig/poultry (2021); commercial plants from Vietnam to Kenya to Latin America.
2. Mealworm (Tenebrio) for petfood and premium segments (EU approved 2023 for pig/poultry as PAP).
3. Single-cell protein (SCP): bacteria/methanotrophs on methane or natural gas → protein biomass (String Bio-type); fungi/yeast on sugars or residues (Changjin Bio-type). No land, tiny water footprint, fermenter-sited anywhere.
4. Microalgae (Spirulina, Chlorella, schizochytrium oil): protein + omega-3 DHA to replace fish oil fraction (also feeds FI01’s colour story).

Active ingredient / Composition#

• Insect meal: crude protein 50–70 % (defatted), fat 5–15 %, chitin 4–8 % (prebiotic side-effect); BSF oil: C12 lauric ~30–40 %.
• SCP: crude protein 65–77 %, balanced amino acids, nucleic acids (processing limit for some species).
• Algae: protein 50–70 % (Spirulina dry), DHA-rich oils (schizochytrium).

Key facts#

Advantages#

• Decouples feed protein from oceans and from deforestation — waste stream in, feed out (circular bioeconomy definition).
• Local production in any climate: fermenters and larvae farms sit next to food mills, cities, breweries.
• Better digestibility than untreated soy (no trypsin inhibitors), consistent amino-acid profile close to fishmeal.
• Frass/digestate returns N-P to soils (A35/W01 links); BSF oil has lauric acid with antimicrobial-adjacent value in young-animal feeds.

Mode of action#

• BSF larvae convert wet organic waste (20–40 % efficiency); heat-drying and defatting yield stable meal; the chitinous cuticle fraction acts as a dietary fibre/prebiotic in monogastrics.
• SCP: methanotrophs fix methane (CH₄ → biomass) — also a methane-emissions story (EN01 off-gas logic); heterotrophs convert sugars to yeast/bacterial protein.
• In salmon/shrimp trials, BSF meal at 25–100 % fishmeal replacement maintains growth in many formulations; species-specific.

Application#

Limitations#

• Price: insect protein still trades above fishmeal in most markets; wins where waste-disposal fees co-finance it.
• Substrate rules (EU) exclude manure — the largest waste stream; law may evolve.
• Allergy (shellfish cross-reactivity from chitin) needs labeling care; nucleic-acid limits for some SCP in monogastrics.
• Scale: global insect meal output is still tiny vs 400+ Mt soybean meal — a Partial verdict on world protein, Replace on specific formula shares.

Evidence of displacement — D1: works, adoption not proven#

Verified figures (the number is in the quoted sentence and the sentence is on the source page):

• displacement — In Norwegian aquaculture, novel ingredients such as insect meal currently represent around 0.4 percent of total feed ingredients. (Norway, 2025; weak: thefishsite.com)
• displacement — Insect-based feed accounted for 0.5% of global protein feed production in 2022. (global, 2022; weak: worldmetrics.org)
• displacement — The share of fishmeal in salmon feed has dropped from roughly 25% in 2010 to an estimated 12–15% in 2026. (European Union, 2010-2026; weak: indexbox.io)
• displacement — Conventional fishmeal, which used to contribute about 65% of the protein content in the feed for salmonids, now contributes to around 38%. (global, past decade; weak: fishfocus.co.uk)

Industry pioneers — companies that commercialised this substitution#

Suppliers — real products and services (from the vendor index)#

Active vendors matched by topic tags (insect-protein, feed-additives, fermentation clusters); open each card for evidence, contacts and status.

Update 2026-10-06: removed after the freshness refresh — no longer active: Insectta (in liquidation, Sept 2026); Entologics (no evidence of current activity).

Government funding signals#

Searched 2026-09-27 via the OpenAIRE project index; candidates reviewed by hand for relevance.

Signal: Strong. 5 relevant grant(s) shown · known amounts ≈ £0.5M + €0.6M · jurisdictions: UK, France, Portugal, Luxembourg, Austria. The insects-as-feed sector is an active industrial-policy target (EU protein-strategy context).

Scientific evidence#

• van Huis A, Van Itterbeeck J, Klunder H, et al. (2013). Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security. FAO Forestry Paper 187, Rome.
• Makkar HPS, Tran G, Heuzé V, Ankers P (2014). State-of-the-art on use of insects as animal feed. Animal Feed Science and Technology 197: 1–33.
• Naylor RL, Goldburg RJ, Primavera JH, et al. (2000). Effect of aquaculture on world fish supplies. Nature 405: 1017–1024.
• Note: journal references were checked against Crossref on 2026-09-27; all resolved, including volume and page numbers. The FAO paper is a publication record. Grants pass: 2026-09-27 (see above).

Bioeconomy value#

The clearest “waste → protein” loop in the modern bioeconomy, with a supplier base spanning three regions of this index — from Vietnamese and Malaysian industrial BSF plants to Kenyan waste-to-feed chains and Indian methane-to-protein fermentation.

Pilot article of the feed collection. Cross-links: phytase/amino acids ↔ FD01; fish health ↔ F01–F06; algae colours ↔ FI01; off-gas fermentation ↔ EN02 (LanzaTech logic).