If you thought that insect production was a thing of the future, think again. Recently I visited Protix, a highly innovative company that is the world leader in producing black soldier flies with almost 200 employees. Protix produces sustainable insect proteins and other ingredients by growing insects on food waste. Situated in Bergen op Zoom, close to other feed/food producers, Protix is ideally situated to take advantage of waste streams from these industries. This helps to reduce food waste. Also, Protix aims for a circular economy, where the food system is more in balance with nature. At the same time, Protix provides a nutritious protein source for a growing world population.
It quickly becomes clear that Protix is passionate about this mission and about insects in particular. This passion resonates in the way people discuss their profession and in the decoration of the building interior. The insect theme is also apparent in the meeting rooms' names, such as grasshopper or cricket.
During my visit, I got a tour of the company by operational expert Daan Biemans and insect rearing expert Anne Jacobs. Daan has been with Protix since it was only about six people. He has witnessed the company's remarkable growth over time. At the beginning, there were no assembly lines, crates, or environmental systems specific for insect rearing. They needed to develop all that knowledge in-house. Anne possesses unparalleled knowledge of the requirements and challenges associated with the entire insect production process.
Together they explained why Protix made the deliberate choice to focus on the black soldier fly rather than, for instance, on the common house fly: The black soldier fly has unique characteristics which makes it perfect for feed applications: It grows fast, consumes different materials (wet and dry) and has lots of offspring. It eats the nutrients it needs for its life during the larvae stage (not as a fly) which has two advantages: the larvae are full of nutrients and the fly is not considered a pest or disease spreader because the fly doesn’t look for food.
Insect rearing closely resembles other forms of farming, such as pig farming. In pig farming, the feed determines the quality of the meat that the farm produces. However, while a pig gets a lot of feed during its lifetime, insects get only a relatively small number of feedings for their short lifecycle. This makes the quality of the end product at Protix more sensitive to variations in the composition of the feed compared to conventionally farmed meats. In short, there is less room for error. Their plant runs 24/7, where the feeding and rearing of the insects are done automatically in crates. Each crate is scanned and weighed to monitor the larvae's development. Protix is continually striving to increase yield and achieve a more consistent product.
Many of the ingredients created by Protix find their way into products that are on the shelves of stores accessible to regular consumers. For instance, insects are an excellent choice for producing hypoallergenic pet food products. Just as humans can have allergies to specific foods like eggs, soy, or certain animal products, cats and dogs can also be allergic to certain foods. Hypoallergenic pet food is designed to reduce the likelihood of allergic reactions in pets. Another insect product that is already on the shelves today is organic insect fertilizers (the 'insect frass'). Insect frass is an excellent way to fertilize the soil and promote healthy soil biodiversity. Also, as consumers we can buy insect-fed shrimp or eggs from insect-fed chickens (OERei).
Currently, the demand for insects surpasses Protix's production capacity. In the near future, Protix wants to further increase its production capacity to make sustainable insect protein and other nutrients available for an even larger population.
Text by Dr. Ir. Karin Jansen, Presales Consultant at Bestmix Software.