Collaborative Project: Development of Sustainable and Competitive Insect Foods – Suproject D (OptiFood)

Insects are successfully marketed as feed in the domestic animal, livestock and aquaculture sectors, and insects also represent a suitable source of protein for human nutrition. Currently, however, insect foods are still a niche product and only a few products have been established on the market for many years. Cereal-based feed mixtures are often used as raw materials in insect fattening, which could also be used as livestock feed and food. The current still high prices for insect foods are also due to high raw material prices. Increasing consumer acceptance is necessary for the successful establishment of insect foods. The development of innovative and sustainably produced insect protein products can be a key to this. Project Objectives: – Development of insect foods on a sustainable feed basis with optimized protein composition for the food sector. – Improvement of the climate footprint of insect products and reduction of production costs through the use of regionally produced feed materials from agriculture that are not used as food and feed. – Adapting production processes to the requirements of the food industry in order to obtain high quality and safe insect food products.