January 3, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan

Global producer of sustainable natural ingredients and specialty solutions Darling Ingredients announced it has bought-out Intrexon, acquiring the remaining 50 percent stake it had not already owned in EnviroFlight, a producer of non-pathogenic black soldier fly larvae at scale. 

Darling Ingredients originally partnered with Intrexon Corp in early 2016 in a joint venture partnership to acquire EnviroFlight for the industrial-scale production of non-pathogenic black soldier fly (BSF) larvae for use as a protein source in animal feed. At the same time, the partners announced the acquisition of EnviroFlight LLC, a developer of proprietary technologies for the raising of BSF larvae on a commercial scale. 

“Current trends in human population growth drive increased demand for protein supply in food production, and we believe that BSF larvae provide the potential to revolutionize the animal feed industries,” commented Corey Huck, senior vice president and head of Intrexon’s Food Sector, said at the time. 

With a mission to develop sustainable animal and plant nutrients using low-value materials in an environmentally responsible manner, EnviroFlight opened its first commercial BSF facility in Maysville, Kentucky, in late 2018. With Phase 1 of the project completed, the site currently has the capacity to produce 900 tons of dried BSF larvae per year.

“EnviroFlight has focused on driving necessary change in the global food supply chain to meet the demands of a growing population, and we look forward to working more closely with Darling Ingredients to realize the considerable promise of insect bioconversion to offer solutions that meet this goal,” said Dr. Liz Koutsos, president of EnviroFlight.

Darling is a global developer and producer of sustainable, natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients for the food, feed, pet food, bioenergy, fertilizer, and technical industries.  With operations on five continents, the company collects and transforms animal byproduct streams into specialty ingredients such as edible fats, feed-grade fats, animal proteins and meals, plasma, pet food ingredients, organic fertilizers, fuel feedstocks, green energy, natural casings, hides, and yellow grease. The company also converts recycled oils and residual bakery products into feed and fuel ingredients.

Together, Darling’s operational expertise with EnviroFlight’s innovative and scalable production model using BSF can be leveraged to standardize processes for optimizing BSF-based feed. 

“Expanding our ownership of EnviroFlight empowers us to accelerate our ability to create higher value, sustainable specialty proteins for the agriculture and companion animal feed industries,” said Randall C. Stuewe, chairman and CEO, Darling Ingredients.

EnviroFlights insect-focused production model offers protein yield potential that is significantly higher than traditional protein sources given the efficiency at which BSF convert low-value organic materials into higher-value proteins, oils, and frass for the animal feed and pet food industries. 

“Our purpose is to repurpose, and growing insects for specialty feed ingredients yields 10 times the usable protein per acre compared to producing algae and is at least 50 times the protein per acre compared to soy,” said Stuewe.

This is particularly the case in regard to fish and poultry, which are natural insectivores; larvae poses a more natural source of protein than soymeal or other plant-based feed components, while insect larvae also provides a greater ability to meet the growing demand for protein in the face of the static supply of plant-based sources, or the environmentally damaging practice of source protein from wild-caught fish, as demand from the aquaculture industry for fishmeal and fish oil is expected to outpace supply.

EnviroFlight said that it continues to work with regulatory agencies toward its goal of gaining approval for the inclusion of BSF-based ingredients in animal feed and pet food in the U.S.  The company’s research programs have demonstrated their safety, applicability, and value for broilers and laying hens, swine, and companion animals.

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.