Assessment of compositional variability of larvae reared in Bioconverters

· Period: June to October 2022

· Partners and roles: BEF Biosystems, internal research

· Researchers and contributors:Marco Meneguz, R&D Manager; Stefano Mercandino, R&D; Arianna Cattaneo, PhD student; Trenton Barber, R&D.

One of the main issues related to the chemical composition of larvae is the variation in their organoleptic profile due to the variability of plant by-products throughout the year. In the case of the diet presented in Report 2021, there were no compositional variations, which allowed the chemical composition of the larvae to be constant.

Chemical analysis was done using a private analytical laboratory, GEM Chimica.

Table 1 shows the compositional differences of larvae bred in the period from June to October 2022

Table 1. Chemical analysis of soldier fly larvae reared on plant by-products formulated for soldier fly rearing.

PROBLEMS: The sample number is low for now, but the number of analyses will be increased as future productions increase.

CONCLUSIONS: Standardization of the diet, and thus of the composition of the larvae, appears to be very well developed to date. The evaluation carried out in the months under review allows us to have a stable product from the point of view of chemical composition. Having a larva product with a constant chemical composition over time allows us to have a marketable flour.