Abstract
Simple SummaryThe production of food is an intensive source of environmental impact. In aquaculture, one source of impact is solid waste, which contains high concentrations of minerals, other nutrients, and metals. The larvae of Hermetia illucens are capable of consuming this material, but applying technology that is based on these larvae for managing waste streams, like those from aquaculture, requires careful examination of safety risks. A study is performed examining the growth performance of larvae that were fed on solid aquaculture waste. Then, a thorough analysis of safety risks from inorganics is performed to serve as a guideline for how to assess the safety of waste streams, such as these. The practitioner can use this as a template for the safety assessment for other high risk organic streams as feed for larvae.The production of food is an intensive source of environmental impact. In aquaculture, one source of impact is solid waste, which contains high concentrations of minerals, other nutrients, and metals. The larvae of Hermetia illucens are capable of consuming this material, but applying technology that is based on these larvae for managing waste streams, like those from aquaculture, requires careful examination of safety risks. A study is performed examining the growth performance of larvae that were fed on solid aquaculture waste. Subsequently, a thorough analysis of safety risks from inorganics, with detailed the results on microelements that have previously received little attention in the literature, is performed to serve as a guideline for how to assess the safety of waste streams such as these. Findings confirm existing results in the literature that Cd is bioaccumulative, but also that other elements, including Hg, Mn, and especially K, are bioaccumulative. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research where the accumulation of Ag is also tested. The results of these tests are explained within the context of regulations in various countries where Hermetia illucens is cultivated, serving as a reference for practitioners to rigorously screen out high risk feed streams that they may consider using as feed sources. It is intended that these references and the demonstrated accumulation of a range of elements motivate comprehensive industry safety practices when evaluating new feed sources.
Highlights
Aquaculture is a rapidly growing link in the food chain [1,2], and waste output from this industry is rising
This case study evaluates the growth potential of BSF larvae on solid aquaculture wastes (SAWs) materials and it provides guidance to practitioners on how to comprehensively test for microelement contamination in the larvae
The results of this study show that SAW materials can be used to grow black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), but that these larvae will contain levels of heavy metals and micronutrients in excess of regulatory limits if larvae are only fed on SAW
Summary
Aquaculture is a rapidly growing link in the food chain [1,2], and waste output from this industry is rising. RAS are not well suited in managing fine solid wastes [5] They are suitable for closed aquaculture systems, but are less appropriate for open-sea farming; there, some eutrophication can occur, but nutrient loss, especially P, can be a major issue. Many trials have been conducted to valorise BSFL lipids and proteins in animal feed, including fish species that are grown in systems that produce SAWs, which indicate that these nutrients are high quality and can replace other sources, such as soy and fishmeal [15,16,17,18,19]. Campo et al (2010) indicated that SAW could carry a wide range of chemical hazards, especially heavy metals, which could have harmful effects on biological life [23] Another topic that remains to be investigated is the accumulation of these hazardous chemicals in BSFL. Investigate the accumulation of hazardous chemicals (heavy metals) in BSFL fed with SAW based diets
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