By Dori Modney

Southern Alberta plant reduces food waste through sustainable insect product

Jan 18, 2021 | 6:03 PM

ROCKY VIEW, AB. — The federal agriculture department isn’t just concerned about the food consumed by humans, it has also zeroed-in on feed for animals.

Along the way, there’s the opportunity to reduce food waste, as more than half of Canada’s food supply (about 35.5 million tonnes) is lost or wasted every year. It’s estimated $49.5 billion of the wasted food is avoidable.

On Monday (Jan 18), Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced that Enterra Feed Corporation received $6 million under the Agri-Innovate Program to help increase the production of sustainable, nutritious products to feed animals, while helping keep food out of landfills.

The money was used to build a facility the size of three football fields in Rocky View County, just north of Calgary, with the announcement taking place during Bibeau’s virtual visit to the plant.

Enterra, based at Maple Ridge, B.C., actually opened the new plant at Rocky View, last year, which is now producing insect-based feed ingredients for the pet food, poultry and wild bird markets in North America and Europe.

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Enterra feeds — credit Enterra web site

The company uses recycled food waste from local farms, grocery stores and food production facilities to feed the insects, which are then dried and processed into animal feed ingredients and fertilizer for plants. At its new facility, Enterra is able to recycle more than 130 tonnes of food waste per day.

Enterra President and CEO, Keith Driver, says the sustainable approach of using pre-consumer food waste allows valuable nutrients that are often left unutilized or underutilized to be captured.

“The resulting products are high-quality feed ingredients with unique beneficial properties that markets are demanding around the world. This work is revolutionary and now Enterra is a world leader in harnessing the power of insects to feed and care for the world.”

The facility also brought more than 65 jobs to the local economy.

The plant uses Black soldier flies to recylce food waste into high-protein feed and organic fertilizer. The flies are a non-invasive insect species with a rich nutritional profile.

Enterra feed protein — credit Enterra website

Enterra was founded in 2007, was the first company in Canada licensed to use and commercially produce insects for animal feed.

With the new Rocky View facility, Enterra is able to increase production capacity to 10 tonnes per day, compared to 10 tonnes per month at its previous pilot production facility.