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Impact of mycotoxins on the production of insect based feed

Project


Project code: BfR-SiN-08-1322-679
Contract period: 01.06.2017 - 31.12.2017
Purpose of research: Applied research

Background: In consideration of an increasing need in protein-rich food and feed also the importance of the accessibility of proteins originating from effective and so far neglected sources is rising. For livestock feeding sources are in the focus which do not interfere with human nutrition. In general the use of insects as sources for food and feed may have important advantages for the environment, economy and food security. The insect species with the highest potential to be used in the EU are housefly, mealworm, cricket or silkworm. Within a projects led by Hochschule Bremerhaven, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and Forschungsinstitut Futtermitteltechnik (IFF Braunschweig) the use of mealworm as potential source for animal feed is investigated since mid of 2016. To be used as feed the larvae are dried, milled and in parts fractionated. Thus, either the whole biomass or the protein and lipid fractions are used. Along with this feed technological process within a project allocated at the BfR the effect of a mycotoxin contamination in the substrate used as feed for the insects shall be investigated. This aspect is of relevance for different reasons: on the one hand the toxins might negatively affect the growth and wellbeing of the insects; on the other hand the fate of the toxins is still unclear and might have an impact on the quality of the feed obtained from the insects afterwards. Also the legal situation of the feeding of insects is still uncertain. It is discussed that food and feed lots with toxin levels above the MRL might be used for feeding insects although they could not be used for feeding livestock. State of research: It is known that flours produced from various insects are highly suitable as protein and lipid fractions in feed and could be used to replace soy and fish flour. However, the projects working on this topic are all on a pre-industrial state and insect flour represents only a niche product so far. The most relevant parameters for a potential scaleup of the process are the social behavior and substrate exploitation of the insects under technical large scale conditions and in dependence on the quality of the used feed. The feed offered to the insects (e.g. byproducts of food production of even food waste) will affect also the contamination of the insects themselves. However, according to EFSA, data on the transfer of harmful chemical substances (e.g. mycotoxins) are still limited. For several insects including the mealworm to be used within the main project, high tolerance towards mycotoxins such as trichothecenes of fumonisins has already been published. However, those publications don´t answer to the question whether those mycotoxins are not toxic to insects and remain unchanged in the insects body or whether they are effectively metabolized and detoxified. For e.g. deoxynivalenol and zearalenone data on the mammalian metabolism are available, however, those data can most likely not be transferred to insects. Consequently, it is uncertain whether insects based feed may possess a toxic potential due to mycotoxins contained in the insect homogenate. As soon as the insects, or products thereof, are used as feed the corresponding legal regulations and MRL have to be considered. It is crucial whether i) high mycotoxins levels have to be expected in the insects that prohibit their use or ii) a modification of the toxins occurs that transforms the compound into derivatives that are still of toxicological relevance but whose presence in feed might be missed by common analytical methods due to the altered chemical structure. Correspondingly, as a central outcome of a BfR symposium in May 2016 on this topic it was stated that prior to a broad use of insects as food and feed several data and knowledge gaps should be closed to ensure that such products can be considered as safe. As a consequence our project aims to answer the following questions: - Does the mycotoxin content of the feed impact on the development of the larvae? - Which differences in mycotoxin tolerance of the insects exist between the most important mycotoxins (i.e. deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, patulin and aflatoxin B1)? - Are the mycotoxins metabolized and if so, which metabolites are formed? - Does a reduction in total mycotoxin contamination occur and in how far does this affect the applicability of the insects as feed for common livestock?

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BMEL - research cluster

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