According to the Regulation, issued by the Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/833, it is not allowed to produce insect biomass on manure and catering wastes. Is it because of potential contamination of these wastes with deleterious chemicals, like pesticides, antibiotics, and endocrine disruptors (which can be applied in farming processes and in kitchens), or because of potential contaminations with pathogens, which is common for agricultiral animals and human? This legislative restriction significantly reduce the opportunity of the recycling of the valuable compounds (fat, amino acids etc.) from the by-products. So, I want to understand, what can we do in order to make the by-product save for recycling by means of insects, earthworms and other invertebrates? For instance, we can use manure from animals, which are free from pharmaceutical usage (I mean veterinary treatments), or we can thermally sterilize the by-products to prevent the propagation of human pathogens.
@ Arsen, actually they are especially vulnerable to chemical contamination such as pesticides, toxic metals and dioxins which are concern with consumption.
It is a pity that the insect sector cannot use some abundant waste streams so far (e.g. post-consumer food waste or manures), due to risks involved. However, I believe this (and other) sector(s) will only be properly stimulated to grow, for real, when these restrictions end.
In order to make things safer I think we should focus on some topics in research, such as evaluating the inactivation of pathogens and final concentrations of those when feeding insects (and other invertebrates) with contaminated substrates; finding out how the post-processing of the resulting products (e.g. larval biomass and fertiliser) affect the safety of those (for instance how the heat involved in producing insect meal/oil ends up sanitising the materials and how pelletization does that also); how to optimize the mechanisms behind the sanitisation needed in those products and even within the waste bioconversion process itself; and evaluate what accumulates and how it accumulates (metals, pesticides, etc) in those animals.
The ban on catering (post-consumer) waste for insects must be taken down as soon as possible, as it is one of the main waste sources for the insect sectors, considering its limited possibilities for use.
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