EAST JUTLAND, DENMARK — VILOFOSS®, an animal nutrition ingredient brand by Deutsche Vilomix Tierernährung GmbH, announced the official opening of the new Enorm Biofactory in East Jutland. According to the brand, the facility represents the largest insect factory in northern Europe. 

“Today we celebrate several years of hard work in which skilled colleagues and numerous partners have made this project possible,” said Carsten Lind Pedersen, co-founder and chief executive officer of Enorm Biofactory. “Now begins the next phase, where we must ramp up production to full operation.”

Construction on the facility began in 2022 and involved several industry stakeholders including the DLG Group, a shareholder of Enorm. 

“This project is a prime example of the direction our business is moving. Enorm Biofactory is a fantastic story of Danish innovation that can provide alternative protein sources for farmers,” said Jesper Pagh, group chief operating officer of DLG. “Now we look forward to production starting and being commercialized.”

The facility specializes in transforming black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) into insect meal, which can serve as a substitute for highly digestible, animal-based proteins. The process leverages byproducts from the food industry, creating high-quality proteins from low-quality products to help advance sustainability.

“We are now ready to receive large amounts of byproducts from the food industry. A good example is Arla Foods Ingredients P/S, which can reduce its food waste by 16% by upgrading byproducts from production to feed instead of being sold for biogas,” Pedersen said. “We hope that more Danish food producers will take responsibility for recycling nutrients through larvae, as circular economy is one of the keys to develop a sustainable food industry.”

The new factory spans 22,000 square meters (236,806 square feet) and processes about 100 tons of insect larvae daily, transforming them into 10,000 tons of insect meal annually. 

Enorm and VILOFOSS’s ultimate goal is to apply insect ingredients into animal nutrition and food products. VILOFOSS recently exhibited at Interzoo 2024, showcasing the capabilities of insect-based proteins for pet food processors. 

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