Vi har tidligere, her på sitet, anbefalet at se nærmere på brug af insekter til fiskefoder (http://www.aquacircle.org/insektfoder). Insekter er jo blandt mange fisk et naturligt foder. I artiklen her (fra AquaFeed.com) fokuseres på 'insektmel' som ingrediens i laksefoder. Læs evt. også FAO's rapport om Edible Insects 2013
Insect meal could make an important contribution to the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry. While the use of insects as a feed in aquaculture is not new and some
scientific trials have already been carried out on tilapia and rainbow
trout, among other species, NIFES has conducted the first trials with
salmon. Results suggest insect meal may become an important ingredient
of feed for farmed salmon, while making fish feed more sustainable. "Insect meal could be a future source of protein in the diet of
Atlantic salmon. Insect meal is extremely rich in proteins, and its
amino acid make-up is similar to that of fish meal," said NIFES
scientist Erik-Jan Lock. Insect meal is produced by separation of proteins and fats followed by drying of insect larvae. "A lot of people think of insect meal as a not particularly delicate
food. But insects and insect larvae are important components of the diet
of wild fish, so insect meal is one of the most natural things to use
for fish-feed," said Lock, who also points out that using insect-meal
has important benefits for the environment. Important environmental benefits "Insects can transform all sorts of organic material, such as food
waste. Today, we throw out about 20 per cent of all our food. This could
instead be a sustainable resource for the production of insects. On a
global scale, insect meal based on organic waste could provide three
times as much protein as all the soya produced today. In other words, it
has great potential," Lock said. His views are supported by NIFES director of research Bente Torstensen. "Insect meal contains all the amino acids that salmon need. Insects
can transform carbohydrates, for example from food waste, to nutrients
that the fish need, in a form that they can utilise," said Torstensen,
who also emphasises that a thorough survey of potential risks need to be
part of future research efforts. Organic waste can contain environmental toxins and other undesirable substances. "We need more knowledge about which substances, and how much of them,
we are talking about in order to be sure that fish-feed based on
insects would be safe for the fish themselves and for consumers," said
Torstensen. Taste remains intact Feed for cultivated fish should provide all the nutrients that fish
need. These may come from fish oil and fish meal or from other
non-traditional ingredients. The availability of resources from the sea
has long since reached a ceiling, while the fish-farming industry
continues to grow. The rapidly rising demand for fish oil and fish meal
has led to feed producers compensating for these ingredients with
vegetable raw materials such as rapeseed oil and soya protein. Such
plant raw materials can replace a large portion of the marine
ingredients in feed, but at the same time they bring new challenges to
fish health and changes the nutrient content of fish. NIFES scientists believe that inclusion of insect meal produced from
insect larvae could help to meet the needs of fish for protein and
essential amino acids. "Our experiments have shown that insect protein can replace up to 100
per cent of the fish protein in the salmon diet, without compromising
either the growth of the fish or the taste of their flesh," said Lock. Lock presented his findings last week when he chaired the aquaculture
session at the "Insects to Feed the World" conference organised by the
UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the University of Wageningen in
the Netherlands. There is already a production of insect meal for use
in animal feed in the Netherlands. Insect meal contains not only protein
but also fatty acids that are beneficial to the health of animals in
general. "These effects also apply to fish", said Lock. First trials on salmon Using insects as a feed in aquaculture is not new, and some
scientific trials have already been carried out on tilapia and rainbow
trout, among other species, although insect meal has never been brought
into use on a large scale. The trials that have been performed at NIFES
are the first that involve Atlantic salmon. The insect meal was provided
by the Dutch company Protix Biosystems BV, that cultivates insects on a
large scale. "Insect meal could make an important contribution to the sustainable
development of the aquaculture industry. We want to do more research in
order to develop the necessary knowledge base," said Lock. 
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