The ABC of Black Soldier Fly farming part 2

In this post series we go through important terminology related to Black Soldier Fly farming (BSF farming), in an alphabetical order. This second post focuses on BSF farming terms from D to G.

Dark cage: Adult flies can be held in a dark cage where they remain until transferred to the love cage – not relevant to all types of insect farming processes. The darkness keeps the flies calm and prevents mating activity.

Decanting: Process to purify BSF crude oil. Gradual pouring of separated BSF oil from one container into another without disturbing the settled solids. Some may be familiar with this word from wine industry.

Decentralized production:
• Processes distributed to multiple locations
• One site is mini to small scale
• Starting investments in a few tens of thousands
• Typically multiple companies involved and specialized
• E.g. Growers rear larvae on the farm
• End products vary from alive larvae to processed insect meal.

Deforestation: The cutting down of forests for agricultural purposes or a result of erosion from human actions to the environment.

Diapause: A period of dormancy or suspended development in Black Soldier Fly pupae.

Diptera: The order of insects to which black soldier flies belong, commonly known as flies.

DM: Abbreviation for dry matter used most often in research publications.

Dry matter: The mass of the matter after all water/fluids have been removed.

Ecdysis: The process of shedding the outer layer of the exoskeleton during molting in Black Soldier Fly larvae.

Egg trap or Eggie: The media used in an engineered BSF-system to collect eggs. It provides sheltered cavities for egg deposition.

Egg: A female fly lays around 500 eggs from which young larvae will hatch within four days. One egg weighs about 29µg.

Engineered biosystem: A biological process that has been optimized for a practical use.

Entomology: The scientific study of insects, including Black Soldier Flies.

Entomophagy: The practice of consuming insects as food, which includes the consumption of black soldier fly larvae.

EU: Abbreviation for European Union.

Fatty acids: Major components of oil. The fatty acid composition determines the quality and application of BSF oil.

Feeding station: A designated area where waste is added in a farming process where the larvae are fed daily throughout the rearing period. Not applicable to a containerized batch type rearing process where the substrate is added all at the beginning of the rearing period.

Fishmeal: Fishmeal is a nutrient-rich feed ingredient used in the diets of farmed animals. It is typically manufactured from wild-caught small marine fish and is a powder obtained after grinding, cooking and defatting the fish. Fishmeal production is a significant contributor to over-fishing.

Fodder: Food for livestock.

Food and restaurant waste: Biowaste from restaurants consists of kitchen scraps and food waste. It typically has a higher nutritional value and a lower water content than market waste or food processing waste.

Food processing waste: Biowaste from the food processing industry. It varies from fruit and vegetable bits to bread crumbs, and brewing waste to dairy products. It is usually a homogenous and uniform waste source, which helps making a well balanced recipe for the substrate and therefore also helps predict and calculate the process outcome, how much and what quality larvae are produced and how much frass can be expected in one rearing cycle.

Fractioning: Process in which BSFL are split into a protein fraction (BSF meal) and a fat fraction (BSF oil).

Frass: The leftovers of a rearing process after the larvae has been separated from the rest. This substance can be a crumbly, soil-like substrate or a wet slurry, depending on the substrate quality. It can be used as a fertilizer as such or sometimes needs to be further processed and mixed with other type of soil-friendly materials, depending on the use case and the original substrate composition.

Grubs: Another term commonly used to refer to black soldier fly larvae.

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Read also the other ABC posts;
The ABC of Black Soldier Fly farming part 1
The ABC of Black Soldier Fly farming part 3
The ABC of Black Soldier Fly farming part 4