A Circular Revolution in the Forecast for Aquaculture Feed
Innovators Future By Insects with strategic partner Fera Science Limited (Fera), winners of WWF and Tesco’s Innovation Connections accelerator scheme award, are working collaboratively with commercial partners to revolutionise the production of aquaculture feed.
The collaborative project will validate Future By Insects’ innovative and sustainable solution which will repurpose organic waste streams and captured Co2 emissions to grow algae as food for insects to produce animal feed ingredients. Hilton Food Group and Greencore, both major suppliers to Tesco, are centrally involved in supporting the project.
Evelyn Peters, Chief Executive of Future By Insects based in the UK, said on learning of the success of their proposal: “The backing of Innovation Connections is crucial to our progression as together with our partners, Greencore and Hilton Food Group, we will be able to work with huge volumes of food waste streams, leading to successful validation of our proposition at scale. We will now be able to build the evidence base that will create commercial viability leading to acceptance and adoption.”
Dr Maureen Wakefield, Principal Scientist, Insect Research Unit, Fera, said: “Fera’s collaboration with Future By Insects will enable them to work with our extensive scientific and practical technical knowledge and our new Insect Research Unit specialising in insect farming. The new facility will provide large scale trial facilities utilising the huge volumes of organic food waste required to carry out the scaled-up testing to build the evidence base necessary to support Future By Insects project work.”
“This is one of a number of strategic projects,” Wakefield adds, “that Fera will be delivering over the coming year, all with the aim of kick-starting the agri-food manufacturing sectors to adopt insect farming technology. Our aspiration is to showcase its ability to valorise waste streams as well as reduce the volume of food waste going to landfill.”
Both Future By Insects and Fera recognise the importance of the involvement of Hilton Food Group and Greencore, due to their scale and position in the market. Both can contribute hugely to Tesco and WWF’s ambition through Innovation Connections to halving the environmental impact of every household’s shopping basket by the acceleration of the adoption of new technologies at scale.
Nigel Edwards, Group CSR Director of Hilton Food Group, lead supplier of protein products to Tesco as part of its international supply chain, says: “Hilton Food Group has chosen to work with Future By Insects and Fera as they offer a credible scale up solution for insect derived fish feed in aquaculture as well as extensive scientific expertise. This project will validate Hilton’s ambition to lower environmental impacts compared with traditional feeds, measured in terms of CO2, water use, circularity and biodiversity.”
Greencore’s Group Sustainability Manager, Norman Watson also confirms their collaboration with the project: “We will provide food ingredient by-products from our production sites to be trialled as insect feed, thereby creating a high-value product from our food by-product waste streams aiding the creation of a closed loop system within our fish product related supply chain. This project works directly with our ambition to play a positive role in the future of food, and to deliver a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive food system.”
To find out more about Fera's Insect services please follow this link: https://www.fera.co.uk/insect-bioconversion-reforming-the-food-system