Cargill and InnovaFeed announced a partnership back in 2019, with the alliance initially focused on insect feed for aquaculture production.
“Expanding this partnership will include more species, starting with the use of insect oil in pig feed,” the companies said in a joint statement on Monday [May 3].
The use of insect protein in monogastric production has yet to be approved in the EU. Therefore, biotechnology cannot make any estimates of when the partners would seek a bond in this direction. Maye Walraven, director of business development at InnovaFeed, told FeedNavigator that the company has done research and development related to the use of insect meal in these species for the past several years.
Insect oil © InnovaFeed
The company’s Black Soldier Fly (BSF) -derived protein production facility in Nesle, a commune in the Somme department in northern France, started operations last November. “This location is currently in the ramp-up phase and will provide the volumes required for the commercial partnership with Cargill,” said Walraven.
InnovaFeed plans to open several additional production facilities. These plants would be similar in size to Nesle in terms of production capacity. The next, announced by the company at the time of the inauguration of its French facility, will be located in Decatur, Illinois, USA.
“With this ambitious deployment plan, InnovaFeed can significantly increase its production capacity in the years to come to meet market demand,” said Walraven.
Nutritional benefits .
To evaluate insect oil as a pig feed ingredient, Cargill and InnovaFeed conducted numerous pig feed trials comparing the effects of different oil wells: “The trials were originally conducted at research and development stations – either in-house at Cargill facilities or at independent third party operations. The studies enabled the team to closely monitor performance and perform statistical analysis of the results. These trials were then repeated on commercial farms to validate performance in several hundred pigs on a large scale, ”the executive said.
The teams found that the nutritional profile of insect oil matched the needs of pigs well, allowing vegetable oil to be added or substituted with no negative impact on performance. With regard to the vegetable oils that this insect oil replaces, comparisons have been made with various vegetable oils typically used in pig feed formulations: soy, coprah, PKO, canola, palm and a mixture of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA).
Insect oil is found naturally in their diet in the wild and is high in lauric acid, a fatty acid that improves gut health in animals, especially piglets, according to the partners
They identified several scientific studies showing the beneficial effects of lauric acid and MCFA on animal gut health, including a VerificationLed by Charlie Elrod of the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University, published last year.
Cargill-InnovaFeed research also showed additional performance and health benefits from the use of insect oil in pig feed: “Insect oil appeared to have positive effects on piglet growth: they gained weight, indicating benefits in terms of improved digestibility of the ingredients . A significant improvement in the quality of the faeces – less fluid, lower bacteria count – was also observed. “
According to InnovaFeed, a technology has been developed that reproduces the life cycle of the insect Hermetia Illucens (BSF) on a large scale.
“Our vertical farm extends over 25,000 m² and comprises several floors to reach heights of more than 12 m. On this fully automated production facility, more than 20,000 eggs per second are collected without human intervention. The automatic larvae counting is based on artificial intelligence and optical Detection of large-scale manipulation of microscopic larvae. “
The production unit in Nesle is located together with Tereos (starch manufacturer) and Kogeban (biomass plant), which, according to Biotech, is an excellent example of industrial cooperation.
“It will enable InnovaFeed to procure a supply of high-quality raw materials and to upgrade its by-products for Tereos on site, while at the same time limiting the energy requirements associated with their processing. Thanks to the joint location with Kogeban, InnovaFeed can use its waste energy.” .
