Danish Consortium on Insects as Food and Feed (INFOOFEE)

Background

Insects for food and feed have gained worldwide attention due to the fact that they are nutritious and the environmental cost of mass-rearing could be by far less when compared to existing production systems of beef, pork and chicken production. Insect farming can also contribute to food security and income generation. A Danish consortium of  people involved with research and innovation explores the potential of using insects as a sustainable food and feed source from different perspectives including food technology, gastronomy, consumer behavior, mass rearing, insect farming, human and animal nutrition, insect pathology, life-cycle assessment, and food safety.

About us

We are a multidisciplinary group of scientists and innovators from institutions based in Denmark. We are engaged in research and innovation in the various areas related to the use of insects as food and feed. We have a broad national and international network, and collaborate with the private sector, research centers, universities, and non-governmental organizations. We contribute to communication between academia and the public through media coverage on the status of insects for food and feed research and innovation.

University of Copenhagen (UCHP)

Four departments at University of Copenhagen are currently conducting research on insects for food and feed:

Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences - PLEN

Our research focuses on diagnosis and management of insect pathogens and their relationship to mass rearing conditions. Our projects include the GREEiNSECT: Insects for green economy project, Nordic Food Lab’s “Discerning taste: deliciousness as an argument for entomophagy” project, and also support from the EU doctorate program AgTrain.

Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports - NEXS

The major research project GREEiNSECT is coordinated by NEXS. GREEiNSECT is a research and capacity building project funded by Danida, Ministry of Foreign Affairs that investigates how insect farming of selected species can contribute to sustainable food security and green economy in Kenya. GREEiNSECT partners conduct research on the technical aspects of insect mass-rearing, their applications to food, nutrition, and feed security as well as their economic and social impacts, including the consumer acceptance.

Contact:
Associate professor Nanna Roos
Rolighedsvej 26,
1958 Frederiksberg C
E-mail: nro@nexs.ku.dk
Phone: +45 35 33 24 97
Personal webpage for Nanna Roos

Department of Food and Resource Economics - IFRO

Consumer acceptance and preferences for insects as food and feed is one of the research topics at the section for Environment and Natural Resources. The overall aim iis to increase knowledge about consumer behavior towards insect-based products in order to enable targeted development of food product compositions that will maximize the potential demand from consumers. This is done both in developing (Kenya) as well as developed (Denmark, Germany) country contexts.

Department of Food Science – FOOD

Nordic Food Lab (NFL), with its innovative research about the culinary potential of foodstuffs in the Nordic region combines scientific and humanistic approaches with culinary techniques from around the world. NFL is hosted by the department and is leading the project ‘Discerning taste: deliciousness as an argument for entomophagy’ to investigate insects and the value they hold within a gastronomic context.

Danish Technological Institute  (DTI)

Since 2012, DTI has been engaged in research and development work on the possibilities of using insects to transform different bio resources, such as by-products from feed and food industries, into protein for feed and food. DTI aims at developing insect production at farm and industrial scale in Denmark and is leading the projects VALIN, SUSMEAL and WICE. Several centers are involved in the insect area at DTI including Chemistry and Biotechnology (lead), Food Technology, Robot Technology and Biomass and Biorefining.

The Technical University of Denmark (DTU)  

The Food Institute works, among other topics, on risk assessment in food production throughout the value chain, ranging from the primary sector products to kitchens and catering businesses. It also focuses on the development of food production on a sustainable basis with utilization of waste streams and recycling of nutrients. In relation to this, the department has conducted research on the risk assessment of house fly larvae as a potential livestock feed and fertilizer.

Aarhus University (AU)

At the Department of Bioscience (Section for Plant and Insect Ecology), the combined use of weaver ants as (i) a pest control agent and (ii) a source of protein is explored. We work in a scenario where ants prey on pest insects to the benefit of plant production and simultaneously turn harmful pest insect into valuable edible protein in the form of ant larvae. Also, we investigate food and protein conversion efficiencies of ants and other insects and disseminate entomophagy to the public.

Contact:
Senior Researcher Hans Joachim Offenberg
Aarhus University
Ny Munkegade 116
Bygning A3, rum 11
8000 Aarhus
Email: joaf@bios.au.dk
Phone: +45 87 15 88 07
Webpage for Plant and Insect Ecology on Aarhus University