By Alice McFarlane

Company uses insect ingredients for animal feed and pet food companies

Jan 18, 2021 | 4:27 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – A British Columbia company that feeds food waste to insects to produce pet food has received $6 million from the federal government for a new plant north of Calgary, Alta.

Enterra Feed Corporation opened the plant last year. It has been producing insect-based feed ingredients for markets in North America and Europe.

Enterra Sales Manager Andrew Vickerson said black soldier flies are used to recycle food waste and turn it into high-protein feed and organic fertilizer.

“We feed our larvae a mixture of food waste and agriculture by-products. It’s primarily fruits and vegetables that come from food processors,” Vickerson said. “It’s all pre-consumer food waste that originates between the farm and the market so it’s still traceable.”

Vickerson said you can feed these insects to most animals, but the primary markets are poultry and fish. They have also been feeding the products to swine.

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“On the pet food side, you can feed it to dogs, cats, reptiles and amphibians,” he said.

Vickerson said the fly has many good qualities and are favoured over meal worms and crickets.

“They are prolific breeders and they grow very quickly. They are not a vector for disease and they don”t have any mouth parts when they’re adults and they are very docile,” he said.

Company president Keith Driver said it is disheartening how much wasted food is out there and does not make it to the plate. The federal agriculture department said more than half of Canada’s food supply is lost or wasted each year.

The $20-million Food Waste Reduction Challenge will fund solutions to deal with food waste in Canada. Federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the government wants to reduce food waste and they are counting on entrepreneurs to help.

“It is an important way to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions while helping Canadian consumers save money. The Enterra model is very promising, and our investment will allow them to continue their launch,” Bibeau said.

Enterra plans to build a second plant in Western Canada.

The government is also committing $6.3 million to cut its own food waste in federal facilities.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF