EP-3578052-B1 - PROCESSING OF INSECT LARVAE

Inventors

• AARTS, Kees Wilhelmus Petrus
• JANSEN, Maurits Petrus Maria
• JACOBS, Anne Louise Mia
• MESCHER, Mark C.
• PRENTNER, Robert
• MATHYS, ALEXANDER
• DE MORAES, Consuelo

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20180605

Claims (7)

1. A method of processing insect larvae comprising the steps of anaesthetising the insect larvae by cooling, wherein the insect larvae are stored in cold water at a temperature below 15°C, followed by inactivation of the insect larvae through destruction of the nervous system by cutting at least 90% of the insect larvae in at least 5 pieces each, wherein during storing, the insect larvae are agitated by agitation means.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cooling temperature of the insect larvae and/or the water is below 10°C, preferably 7°.
3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the insect larvae are processed to powder comprising protein and/or fat and/or chitin.
4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the insect larvae are separated from rearing residue before the anaesthetising step.
5. A system for processing insect larvae according to the method of any one of claims 1 to 4, the system comprising means for cooling the insect larvae and means for cutting the insect larvae configured to cut the insect larvae in at least 5 pieces at once, wherein the system is also configured to store and cool insect larvae in cold water at a temperature below 15°C before cutting, and wherein the system comprises agitation means configured to agitate the insect larvae during storing.
6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the cooling means are configured to maintain the temperature below 15°C, preferably below 10°C.
7. The system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the insect larvae are separated from rearing residue by separating means.

Description

The invention generally relates to processing of insect larvae in a most appropriate way regarding ethics, involving anaesthetising and inactivating the insect larvae with minimal stress implications. The use of insects as a food source for humans and livestock has significant potential to meet increasing demands imposed by ongoing human population growth and to address concerns about sustainability and long-term food security. However, large scale production and harvesting of insects gives rise to ethical questions pertaining to animal-welfare. There are different approaches to handle larvae before and during the inactivation step involving drying, boiling, freezing, mincing or gassing. It is, however, still under discussion which methods are the most suitable for not causing unnecessary stress while still facilitating large scale processing. Currently the state-of-the-art technology to inactivate insects is freezing, which is a cost-intensive process. Other methods include flash freezing, dry-freezing, drying, boiling or gassing the insect larvae. Generally, the dead insects are then treated by grinding or cutting and processed to protein powder. By applying cooling-cutting, insect inactivation by destruction of the nervous system without putting additional stress to the insects can be achieved. Other techniques involving heat such as drying or boiling and cutting without anaesthetising increase stress levels in insects or, e.g. CO2 gassing, are not as fast as the proposed method. WO 2013/191548 A1 describes a method of converting insects or worms into nutrient streams, the method comprising a first step of squashing the insects to obtain a pulp. US 2008/0075818 A1 discloses a method of producing high protein insect meal as animal feed. Therefor, the insects are dried and, after thorough desiccation, ground into meal. Drying however, as well as freezing, is a slow process and highly energy-intensive. US 2011/045141 A1 relates to feed, a method of producing feed and a larva pricking apparatus. WO 95/26633 discloses a substrate capable of inducing insects to lay eggs thereon at extremely large numbers. WO 03/013557 A1 discloses a topical application of fly larvae extracts obtained from fly larvae which are killed and extracted in an aqueous medium under cooling conditions. WO 2006/053253 A2 discloses a method for recovery of proteins from insect larvae wherein an extraction buffer is mixed with at least one of whole insect larvae and non-homogenized parts of insect larvae. Thus it is an objective of the present invention to provide an efficient method of processing insect larvae without imposing unnecessary stress on them. The invention is defined by the independent claims. Dependent claims describe preferred embodiments. According to an embodiment, a method is proposed which comprises cooling the insects in cold water at a temperature of 15°C or lower, in order to anaesthetise them and destroy their nervous system by means of cutting each insect larva in at least 5 or preferably 10 pieces in a very short time, resulting in inactivation of the insects. The cooling may be performed by adding a fluid, e.g. cold water. The fluid/insect larvae mixture may have a ratio of 50:50 or may have any other suitable ratio, such as between 30:70 and 80:20. The target temperature of the cooling process may be 10°C, 7°C or lower. At least 90% of the larvae are cut. The insect larvae may be processed to powder comprising protein and/or fat and/or chitin. The processing of the larvae according to the invention preferably involves cooling, separating and inactivation of the insect larvae. Specifically, the insect larvae may be separated from rearing residue before being processed. The separation step or washing step can thereby be performed using a fluid, e.g. water, gas or mechanical means. The insect larvae are stored in cold water before being sent to processing. The storing may be performed in tanks. Preferably during storage, the amount of water in the water-larvae mixture is between 30-80% by weight. During storage, the water has a temperature below 15°C in order to metabolically deactivate the insect larvae, which can be considered as an anaesthetising step. Also, storage in a cold environment helps preventing contamination with and growth of microbial pathogens. Furthermore, since they float in water, crushing of the larvae due to their own weight can be prevented. The temperature may preferably be below 7°C. Also, the water/insect larvae mixture may be agitated by agitating means in order to provide a homogenous cooling. In that way, the insect larvae can be stored for a period of up to four days. The features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent by the detailed description and the accompanying drawing. Fig. 1 shows the stress level of insect larvae in response to different stimuli. In order to assess the stress level of insect larvae during rearing and processing, research has been done to