Today insect proteins cannot be fed to poultry as legislation passed after the mad cow disease crisis in the late 1990s prevents processed animal proteins from being fed to livestock (IPIFF, 2018). As a result, insects cannot currently be fed to chickens or pigs. However, an exception to that legislation has been made for farmed fish and, since 2013, insects have been approved in aquaculture feed (ibid.).

Since approving insect feed for fish feed, companies have begun producing insect protein:

Roughly 1,000 tonnes of insect protein have been commercialised by European insect producers in total, since the authorisation of insect proteins for use in aqua feed.

In the calendar year 2028, how many tonnes of insect protein will be estimated to be used as animal feed for livestock, poultry and fish in Europe?

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Resolution

Estimates should come from credible organisations, such as the International Platform of Insects for Food & Feed Association (IPIFF), or other EU-affiliated organisations or academic publications by researchers without livestock-feed related commercial affiliations.

In the case multiple estimates are found upon resolving, the admin may choose to resolve this question as the median of different estimates, or resolve it per the estimate deemed most credible.