Environmental impact assessment of black soldier fly larvae production as a feed (original) (raw)

Thompson, Michael; Wohlfahrt, Jens; Stadtlander, Timo; Leiber, Florian and Sandrock, Christoph (2020) Environmental impact assessment of black soldier fly larvae production as a feed. In:Eberle, Ulrike; Smetana, Sergiy and Bos, Ulrike (Eds.)Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food (LCAFood2020), 13-16 October, 2020, Berlin Virtually, Germany. DIL, Quakenbrück, Germany, pp. 703-704.

Summary in the original language of the document

While insects are increasingly valued for their suitability as a feed in livestock and aquaculture production [1], their environmental superiority to conventional feed counterparts remains largely unconfirmed. To be a viable alternative to conventional feed, insect production systems need to showcase equivalent nutrient outputs at competitive environmental costs. For this, black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) are recognized as a suitable candidate, particularly due to their efficiency in converting a broad range of low-opportunity-cost organic material into valuable protein [1]. However, few studies exist to date which investigate the environmental performance of BSFL feed production systems using primary data [2-4]—therefore their eco-efficiency remains poorly understood. This study addresses this deficiency by assessing the environmental impacts associated with a Swiss facility producing BSFL meal for use in fish and poultry feed.

Repository Staff Only: item control page