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The pet food industry is increasingly innovating by adopting insect protein, especially Black Soldier Fly insect meal. What are the advantages?
Let's explore them in this post.
BSF insect meal boasts an excellent protein content that ranges between 55-60% in dry matter, comparable to traditional sources like soy or fish meal.
In addition to protein, it contains healthy fats, essential minerals, and vitamins, making it a complete and balanced nutritional profile. Its production requires significantly fewer resources than traditional protein sources-sometimes up to 95% less water, 88% less CO2, and more. This makes it especially attractive from an environmental perspective-a significant factor driving consumer interest.
BSF protein also possesses many advantages for our pets. It is highly digestible, as various studies have shown, and thus very suitable for animals with sensitive stomachs. Insect protein is hypoallergenic, which makes it a promising alternative for pets allergic to traditional proteins, such as chicken.
Indeed, the future looks very bright for BSF in the pet food industry, with expected significant increases in investment in research and development, as well as an expansion in the variety of available products. Educating the consumer will be important to drive adoption of this protein.
Insect meal was traditionally a lot more expensive. Nevertheless, increased production has considerably brought down the cost, with present levels comparable with fish meal, there are farms right now selling Insect Meal around €1800/ton, and there is optimism that it would continue to decline, making the sector more accessible for the pet food industry.