EU, UK open doors to Malaysian insect producers
Black soldier fly larvae is a good source of protein for animal feed
1 March 2023
2 minute read
By: In June of 2022 insect producers in Malaysia became eligible to export insect-based material to the EU for the first time, following Malaysia's inclusion on the list of countries approved to export insects and insect-based products to the EU, joining a small selection of countries including Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and South Korea, with permission to do so, according to a press release from Nutrition Technologies. This is a boon for the Malaysian economy, a major food producer which is heavily reliant on agricultural exports.
The Ministry of Agriculture approved Nutrition Technologies to export its insect meal and oil into the EU & UK markets on February 19, making it one of a handful of companies around the world, and the first in Malaysia with this level of approval. Previously only able to access European insect-based products, this development opens the doors for the rapidly growing sustainable petfood sector in Europe to access high quality, low-energy insect-based materials.
Nutrition Technologies manufacture and supply insect protein meal, oil and frass (insect manure) to help feed the growing agriculture and feed industries around the world. Using a combination of beneficial microbes and Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) using a low-energy, zero-waste production model to grow their insects, the larvae are reared on clean and traceable agro-industrial by-products.
The insect-based products are suitable for application in pet food, livestock and aquatic feed, and have a range of proven functional benefits which improve the animals' health and growth. The insect meal is also suitable for therapeutic applications in pets that have allergies to common pet food proteins such as beef and lamb. What's attractive to many manufacturers is the potential impact on GHG emissions that can be achieved through switching to insect-based meats in place of traditional protein sources, as approximately 25% of the GHGs associated with meat production is generated through use in petfood. Since tropically farmed insects produce a fraction of the GHG emissions of traditional meat - this enables manufacturers to make further improvements to the carbon footprint of pet food production.
The Malaysian insect meal is produced to the highest international safety & hygiene standards with full batch traceability, where the larvae are fed only vegetable-based agro-industrial materials such as palm and grain by-products. The insectmeal is fully compliant with EU regulations, and the facility is both GMP & HACCP certified.
