A new article Yellow Mealworm and Black Soldier Fly Larvae for Feed and Food Production in Europe, with Emphasis on Iceland has been published in Foods 2021. The purpose of the study is to give an overview of the most popular insects farmed in Europe, yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, and black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, together with the main obstacles and risks. A comprehensive literature study was carried out and 27 insect farming companies found listed in Europe were contacted directly. The results show that the insect farming industry is increasing in Europe, and the success of the frontrunners is based on large investments in technology, automation and economy of scale.

The article can be found here.

 

Figure 1: Relationship between mealworms and BSF (colored blue) to species that have been shown to be able to act as vector for prions (colored yellow) and to species that might possibly have a cure for prion diseases.