In its 2021 (#WWFReport) report, the WWF urges the UK government to introduce legislation that permits the use of insect meal in pig and poultry feed and broadens the range of feedstocks that can be used to farm insects.
A new roadmap to accelerating insect protein in UK feeds was undertaken by ADAS and Michelmores on behalf of WWF and Tesco (source: WWF Report 2021). The research provides an independent and neutral assessment of how the UK insect biomass value chain could be scaled up to provide processed insect protein meal for use in farmed animal feed for poultry, pigs, and aquaculture.
Farmed animals play a pivotal role in the food production system, enabling the creation of food products for humans, often utilizing materials that are otherwise unsuitable for direct human consumption. The production of feed ingredients is competing with and utilizing land that could otherwise be used to produce other food crops for direct human consumption.
One way to address the protein needs of animals is to diversify the protein sources used within animal production systems and to reduce reliance on global supply chains.
Whilst there are a range of novel proteins emerging (e.g., algal, bacterial, and yeast-derived), insect protein is one alternative that has been acknowledged as having considerable potential for use in animal feed (for species such as chickens, pigs, and salmon). Insect protein presents an opportunity to diversify, displace, or replace some of the current protein needs of animals fulfilled by fishmeal and soybean meal. Not only can insects be farmed in relatively small spaces compared to other agricultural products, they offer the opportunity to utilize by-products that may otherwise be wasted, and farming can be conducted on non-agricultural land with fewer environmental consequences.
(Source: WWF Report 2021)