BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Insect protein supplier Agroloop Hungary Ltd. has announced the opening of its new 13,000-square-meter (139,931-square-foot) automated protein production facility on the outskirts of Budapest. With a €30 million ($31.5 million USD) investment, the facility is the first industrial-scale insect protein processing plant in Hungary dedicated to animal feed production, according to Agroloop.

The new facility will use 120 tonnes of feed material per day from byproducts of various domestic food producers to feed insect larvae, which will then grow to about 1.8 billion during the “peak period.” The plant will then transform the insects into 250 tonnes of high-quality protein meal, 50 tonnes of feed fat, and 900 tonnes of organic fertilizer per month from around 150 million larvae per day.

Source: Agroloop

The factory, which currently employs 35 people, is the largest alternative feed protein plant in Central Europe and the first to introduce the supply chain model of outsourcing the insect farming process, according to Agroloop. This is a result of a collaboration between the company and FreezeM Ltd. of Israel and Germany, which specializes in black soldier fly breeding technologies. Under the partnership, FreezeM will provide weekly support in the propagation and supply of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) from its breeding center in Germany. 

“We firmly believe that the insect industry must be part of the solution to ecological problems, as we can offer a sustainable, alternative source of protein for livestock and pets,” said Rajmond Percze, co-founder and chief executive officer of Agroloop. “We are providing them with a natural resource for the future. By opening this plant, we are not only aiming to meet the growing global demand, but also to establish industrial-scale insect farming in the Central and Eastern European region and to become a world leader in the long term.”

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