Applying learnings from ecology to waste management

Prof. Jeffery Tomberlin, Professor and & AgriLife Research Fellow in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University, presented at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health (IFNH) public seminar of ETH Zurich on 25 September 2018. For nearly 20 years, his research efforts have focused on developing methods for the production of alternate protein sources for use as livestock, poultry, and aquaculture feed. His talk was entitled, “A Tale of the Black Soldier Fly- Harnessing the Decomposition Process to Produce Food and Feed.”

Speaking to an audience of 80 participants, Prof. Tomberlin first talked about quorum sensing, a common mechanism to detect and respond to cell densities, for example by the production of certain volatiles by microbial communities. In the second half of his talk, he demonstrated how this applies to the black soldier fly. Black soldier fly processing is an emerging technology for the production of animal feeds. It uses the natural appetite of the black soldier fly larvae to recycle organic side streams and wastes into animal protein and fat, and a compost-like residue. Black soldier fly use quorum sensing to detect the optimal place for egg oviposition, and black soldier fly larvae process performance can be increased by microbes.

The audience raised concerns of chemical safety, such as heavy metals, when larvae are raised on municipal organic solid waste. Research looking at these concerns has been conducted at Eawag. The competitiveness in regard to production costs as compared to current animal feed components was also a point raised by the audience. Currently, this can be tackled by identifying and developing niche markets that pay a premium. As an example, Prof. Tomberlin mentioned feeds for backyards chicken in the USA (Popworms). In contrast to Europe, according to Prof. Tomberlin, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States permitted the use of black soldier fly larvae as feed for poultry. In the future, Prof. Tomberlin expects the production of black soldier fly eggs will be a promising business, as reliable and sufficient amounts of offspring are a requirement for feed production and waste management at scale.

Prof. Jeffery Tomberlin’s talk was part of a visit to the Sustainable Food Processing (SFP) Laboratory at ETH Zürich and the Department of Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development (Sandec) at Eawag, where two projects on black soldier fly processing are underway.

Find more at about these projects: Insect production from biowastes for animal feeds and external page From ORganic WAste to Recycling for Development.

We thank Prof. Tomberlin for sharing his research with us!