ARTICLE 48 F&A Alternative Proteins Edition April 2023 “The global vegetable oil production is located in only a few countries. This is a considerable concern for global food security as any destabilization of the global trade, or any obstacle to the production or export of these commodities, will lead to product shortage and soaring prices. In contrast, black soldier fly larvae can be farmed almost everywhere in the world, which is a strong asset for this oil to become a major ingredient for animal nutrition.” Black soldier fly farming is less than ten years old, but it has the potential to produce huge volumes of alternative insect-based products in the coming decades. Because insect oil is a major product of insect farming, it is critical to review its potential to support a healthy diet for animals. The primary markets for insect products are the aquaculture, livestock and pet industries. Black soldier fly oil being a novel ingredient, two questions are frequently raised: what are the benefits compared to plant-based oil, and how does it contribute to animal nutrition and health? GLOBAL VEGETABLE OIL PRODUCTION STATISTICS During 2021-2022, the five most consumed vegetable oils in the world were, palm oil (71.2 million tons/year), soybean oil (59.3 million tons/year), rapeseed oil (29.4 million tons/year), sunflower oil (17.9 million tons/year) and palm kernel oil (8.3 million tons/year), respectively. Collectively, these five vegetable oils represented 91.1% of the world oil consumption (Statista, 2023). Prices for these five oils have been extremely volatile over the last three years, increasing March 2020 (due to Covid-19 crisis) until reaching a peak in March 2022 (due to the war between Ukraine and Russia). From March to December 2022, the oil prices decreased, but without coming back to the initial values of March 2020 (Figure 1). The majority of palm oil and palm kernel oil production is geographically circumscribed to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, accounting for almost 90% of the global production. Similarly, 80% of the soybean production comes from Brazil, the United States of America and Argentina together. Regarding global sunflower production, Ukraine and Russia were the first and second highest producers in 2021 respectively, representing about 60% (US Department of Agriculture, 2023). The global vegetable oil production is thus located in only a few countries. This is a considerable concern for global food security as any destabilization of the global trade, or any obstacle to the production or export of these commodities, will lead to prodBLACK SOLDIER FLY OIL: A PROMISING FUNCTIONAL INGREDIENT Charles Rodde, PhD R&D Manager Entofood (Malaysia)
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