Research view on heat treatment for supermarket food waste used as a substrate for BSFL

Is supermarket food waste a relevant organic waste source / substrate for black soldier fly larvae to upcycle back to animal feed?

Does supermarket food waste need special treatment before being fed to the larvae, does it contain pathogens that compromise the process in any way?

Research review: “Effect of heat treatment on microbiological safety of supermarket food waste as substrate for black soldier fly larvae”

Highlights:

• Supermarket food waste is suitable substrate for rearing black soldier fly larvae.
• High waste reduction of supermarket food waste by rearing black soldier fly larvae.
• Heat treatment of supermarket food waste is necessary for microbiological safety.
• Substrate composition influences the effect of heat treatment on food pathogens.
• Heat treatments applied on supermarket food waste did not influence larval growth.

Key findings:
“[…] rearing experiments with black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) on supermarket food waste (SFW) resulted in high larval mass, bioconversion efficiency and waste reduction compared to Gainesville diet.

Additionally, heat treatment of SFW had no negative or positive effect on the growth characteristics and performance of the BSFL.

It can be concluded that rearing BSFL can be a suitable solution for processing supermarket food waste, and an appropriate heat treatment can be used to obtain microbiologically safe waste without eliminating necessary nutrients for BSFL rearing.”

Full text in Science Direct:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X23002957