Iranian Knowledge-Based Firm Produces Animal Feed Protein from Insects
“Replacing soybeans with insects in the diet of livestock, poultry and aquatic animals is one of the measures we have adopted,” said Mahboubeh Sarabi, the managing director of the knowledge-based company.
Referring to the high costs of disposal of the municipal waste in Iran, she said, “Waste disposal can be implemented at a very low cost by using insects, and therefore, a tripartite agreement between the Vice-Presidency for Science, Technology and the Knowledge-Based Economy, the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, and the Ministry of Interior was concluded in this regard.”
“At present, we have replaced 8% of soy with this protein to replace in the diet of animals, but we can increase it to 20% or 30% based on the standards of the EU insect breeding requirements,” Sarabi said.
Insects as feed are insect species used as animal feed, either for livestock, including aquaculture, or as pet food.
As livestock feed production uses ~33% of the world's agricultural cropland use and large-scale use of insects could be important in the development of a sustainable food system. They can transform low-value organic wastes into nutritious material and have low environmental impacts.
Due to their nutritional profile, especially the high protein content, various types of insects can be used as feed for industrial animal production and aquaculture.
An insect-based diet for farm animals has been scientifically investigated for pigs, poultry and edible fish. Insects can provide as much protein and essential amino acids for swine and poultry that can potentially replace soybean meal in a diet.
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