What’s for Dinner… for Animals? Insects Are Changing Feed
Insects may make humans wrinkle their noses, but animals don’t share our hesitation. While humans debate whether bugs belong on our plates, insects are already proving their value where it matters most: in animal feed.
Using insects in animal feed is no longer an experimental idea. It is now a rapidly scaling sector backed by strong scientific evidence, clear regulatory frameworks, and increasing demand from the feed industry. With efficient nutrient recycling and a remarkably small environmental footprint, insects are emerging as one of the most promising alternatives to conventional feed proteins such as soymeal and fishmeal.
A Circular Protein Source for Modern Agriculture
Insects convert low-value biomass into high-quality protein with exceptional efficiency. According to FAO, insects need significantly less land, water and feed compared to traditional livestock protein sources.
The factsheet emphasises that insects can thrive on side streams and agricultural by-products that would otherwise go to waste. While this capability is highlighted for both food and feed discussions, it has the strongest and most immediate impact in feed, where transforming low-value materials into stable, high-quality protein is a core industry need.
This makes insect protein a natural fit for resilient, circular feed systems.
Proven Performance Across Feed Sectors
Research from Wageningen University shows that insect meal performs especially well in aquaculture, improving growth rates and gut health in fish.
In poultry diets, black soldier fly (BSF) meal has been shown to replace fishmeal without compromising feed efficiency.
The sector is also expanding rapidly in pet food, where demand for hypoallergenic, high-digestibility proteins is growing. The IPIFF reports that insect-based pet food is currently one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry.
Benefits of insect flours sold in aquaculture and pet foods are well appreciated. It is today a highly valuable source of protein for them. Communicating and educating on these benefits should be an efficient tool for increasing human consumer intimacy in the future.
Strong Regulatory Backing in the EU
The European Union has progressively opened the market for insect protein in feed.
EU legislation now allows certain insect species to be used in aquaculture, poultry, and pig feed, provided they come from approved substrates and certified farms.
EFSA confirms that when insects are raised under controlled conditions, their biological and chemical safety levels are comparable to other conventional feed ingredients.
This regulatory clarity is one of the key drivers behind the sector’s current expansion.
The rapidly increasing pet-food market is a great opportunity for proteins ingredients produced via bioconversion of agrifood side-streams by insect rearing. Insect technologies have great potential for this industry field as the products are nutritious and can be produced using also challenging side-streams.
Environmental Benefits That Matter:
- high protein yield per square meter,
- ability to upcycle waste streams into nutrients,
- significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional livestock protein,
- contribution to food system resilience through local production.
FAO also notes that insect farming requires drastically fewer resources than soybean cultivation or fishmeal production.
A Scalable Solution Ready for Adoption
With growing pressure on global protein supplies and volatility in commodity markets, insects offer feed producers a dependable, local, and efficient protein source.
Industry reports show that production capacity across Europe is rising quickly, with projections of insect meal reaching hundreds of thousands of tonnes by the end of the decade.
For companies seeking to reduce environmental impact while maintaining high nutritional performance, insect-based feed ingredients are becoming an increasingly attractive solution.
Across the EIT Food community, we’re seeing startups move insect protein from theory to real-world application. What once sounded futuristic is now a commercially viable ingredient that improves feed efficiency, reduces pressure on land and oceans, and aligns perfectly with Europe’s circular economy goals.
Startups Leading the Way in Insect-Based Feed
Within the EIT Food ecosystem, several startups have already demonstrated that BSF larvae can be produced at scale and integrated into existing feed supply chains.
Proteine Resources (Poland) – EIT Food Accelerator Network
🔗 Website: https://www.proteineresources.com/
Proteine Resources upcycles food-grade waste into hypoallergenic insect-based pet protein. Their model shows how BSF production can reduce waste, cut emissions and create high-value feed ingredients simultaneously.
Nasekomo (Bulgaria) – EIT Food RisingFoodStars
🔗 Website: https://nasekomo.life
Nasekomo develops large-scale BSF production systems for aquaculture, poultry and pet food. By combining automation with advanced biotech, they are accelerating the industrialisation of insect protein across Europe.
Ÿnsect (France) – EIT Food partner ecosystem
🔗 Website: https://www.ynsect.com
Ÿnsect is one of the world’s leading insect protein companies, producing premium ingredients for aquaculture and pet nutrition. Their approach integrates vertical farming and biotechnology to optimise environmental efficiency.
Beta Bugs (United Kingdom) – EIT Food Accelerator Network
🔗 Website: https://www.betabugs.uk
Beta Bugs focuses on genetic improvement of Black Soldier Fly strains to increase yield, resilience and feed conversion efficiency. These advancements help scale insect protein to meet growing demand.
A growing conversation
To accelerate this transition, the EIT Food Protein Diversification Think Tank and the EIT Food Consumer Observatory have developed a fact sheet packed with insights on insects potential, barriers to adoption, and strategies to build lasting consumer trust.
We invite stakeholders and consumers across the agrifood value chain to download the fact sheet and discover how targeted communication, smart product innovation, and consumer insights can bring insects into everyday diets.
Sources and Footnotes
- FAO – Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security (2013)
https://www.fao.org/3/i3253e/i3253e.pdf - Wageningen University & Research – Insect protein research for aquaculture and poultry
Overview page: https://www.wur.nl/en/research-results/research-themes/circular-and-climate-neutral-food-systems/insects-as-feed.htm
Aquaculture/poultry report (archived version, working link):
https://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/fulltext/549066 - IPIFF – The European Insect Sector Today, Industry Reports
https://ipiff.org/publications/ - European Commission – Regulatory Framework for Insects in Animal Feed
EU Feed Protein Balance and legislative updates (2017–2024):
https://food.ec.europa.eu/safety/animal-nutrition/insects-feed_en - EFSA – Risk Profile Related to Production and Consumption of Insects as Food and Feed
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/4257
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