Dutch agtech company Protifarm, which breeds the Buffalo mealworm (
Alphitobius diaperinus) for human applications such as sports nutrition, meat alternatives and baked goods, has a production site based in Ermelo, one hour east of Amsterdam.
Following a European Food Safety Authority decision in January deeming mealworms safe for human consumption, Ynsect is also expanding into the market of food ingredients derived from insects and striving to obtain food authorization for its own protein concentrate meal.
Protifarm’s vertical farm and processing facility produces more than 1,000 metric tons of food ingredients annually, and the company is aiming to expand the facility to 20,000 metric tons of insect-derived ingredients to feed humans, pets and plants.