Potential of Black Soldier Fly Production for Pacific Small Island Developing States

Abstract

Organic waste such as food waste and livestock manure is a serious concern in the Pacific Islands, where landfills are overflowing and illegal dumping of waste threatens the fragile ecosystems. Organic waste also attracts filth flies, some of which are vectors for pathogens that cause human disease. The black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, has tremendous potential for the Pacific Islands. Capable of digesting almost any organic matter and converting it into insect biomass, black soldier flies are already being used around the world to process organic waste into larvae. The system can be adapted to large-scale municipal composting as well as small sizes for individual livestock farms or even urban households. The larvae can be fed live to fish or poultry, processed into feed comparable to fishmeal or soy meal, or even used to generate biofuel. Thus, the fly not only eliminates waste, but also can improve the sustainability of livestock production. The Pacific Small Island Developing States stand to benefit immensely from black soldier fly bioconversion facilities, used primarily as a means to compost organic waste; however, several knowledge gaps must first be addressed. We reviewed the state of black soldier flies in the Pacific and identified where their use shows the most promise. Research priorities for the field include fly surveys and bioconversion assays using Pacific crop waste.

Availability of black soldier fly meal as an alternative protein source to fish meal in red sea bream ( Pagrus major , Temminck & Schlegel) fingerling diets

“…In addition, BSF has advantages such as inactivating pathogens in livestock faeces (Erickson et al, 2004) and the small amount of food intake by adults (Sheppard et al, 2002). Black soldier fly meal is currently produced commercially in the United States and Europe (Shelomi, 2020). The larvae have already been used as FM substitutes in fish feeds, and research on the efficacy has been conducted with several fish species, such as the turbot Psetta maxima (Linnaeus) (Kroeckel et al, 2012) and the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar (Linnaeus) (Belghit et al, 2019; Li et al, 2020).…”

Edible insect-processing techniques: a strategy to develop nutritional food products and novelty food analogs

“…Insect margarine was successfully formulated by replacing 75% oil plants with H. illucens and T. molitor lipids without adversely affecting spreading and color [133]. Some enterprising entrepreneurs may seek to start black soldier fly farms less for waste removal and more for production of the larvae, if not for livestock feed, then for high-protein and low-carb food to combat unhealthy diets, or for more creative cuisine such as EntoMilk™ (Cape Town, South Africa) [142]. Tello et al [22] developed an insect-based milk analog using frozen T. molitor larvae.…”

Biological contaminants in insects as food and feed

“…Moreover, also for the black soldier fly (H. illucens), a novel food dossier was submitted. While rarely considered as a food source in Europe (in contrast to certain Asian and African regions (Wang and Shelomi, 2017) and the discussion of its potential as food for the Pacific Small Islands Developing States (Shelomi, 2020)), biological safety of this species has not been described regularly in the context of human food. For animal feed, however, several studies have been performed, as detailed below.…”