Reconstruction
Between 2010 and 2025, insect farming moved from a mixture of small commercial operations, traditional farming systems and specialist breeding into a conspicuous branch of industrial food technology. The Netherlands became an important European center of this transition. Dutch firms and researchers developed climate-controlled, vertically organized facilities intended to produce insects consistently at feed or food standards. In 2019, Protix opened a large industrial plant at Bergen op Zoom devoted principally to black soldier fly ingredients for animal and pet food.
The farms did not create insect eating. Farmed crickets were already a substantial food sector in Thailand, while silkworm pupae, grasshoppers and many other insects had long culinary histories elsewhere. What changed was the scale, capital intensity and degree of control. Industrial operators managed breeding stock, eggs, larval growth, temperature, humidity, feeding and harvest as linked production stages. Sensors, mechanized handling, stacked rearing units and automated separation reduced some manual labor and enabled dense production in enclosed buildings.
The principal products varied by species and market. Black soldier fly larvae were commonly separated into protein meal and oil for aquaculture, poultry, pig or pet-food formulations. Mealworms and crickets could be blanched or otherwise heat-treated, dried and sold whole, or milled into powders for snacks, bars, pasta and baked products. Frass—the mixture of insect excreta, shed skins and residual substrate—also became a potential fertilizer or soil product, subject to regulation and treatment requirements.
Circularity was a central argument for the industry, but its meaning requires qualification. Some insects can grow on permitted plant-processing residues, former foodstuffs and other suitable co-products. In the European Union, however, farmed insects destined for food or feed cannot simply consume unrestricted organic waste: manure, catering waste and many mixed waste streams are prohibited. Environmental performance also depends on the substrate, heating and ventilation demands, processing energy, location and conventional product displaced. Early life-cycle studies found advantages for mealworms in land use and greenhouse-gas emissions relative to several livestock proteins, but they did not establish that every insect product is automatically sustainable.
Regulation helped determine expansion. The European Union authorized processed insect protein for aquaculture feed in 2017 and broadened permitted use to poultry and pigs in 2021. Beginning in 2021, specific insect products also received novel-food authorizations following safety assessments. These decisions did not approve insects indiscriminately; they applied to defined species, processes and conditions of use, with allergen labeling remaining important.
The lasting significance of this period is therefore technological rather than culinary alone. Industrial insect farming joined controlled-environment agriculture, alternative proteins and by-product valorization in efforts to redesign protein supply. By 2025 it remained an evolving sector—not a universal replacement for livestock or soy—but it had established insects as regulated, engineered ingredients within modern food and feed systems.
Historical context
The world population passed 7 billion on October 31, 2011, and reached 8 billion on November 15, 2022, intensifying debate about land, feed demand and the environmental costs of protein production. European insect agriculture developed within an unusually dense network of food companies, universities, logistics systems and regulators. EU rule changes became practical turning points: insect protein entered aquaculture feed in 2017 and poultry and pig feed in 2021, while the first EU authorization for dried yellow mealworm as a novel food followed in 2021. These developments coincided with rapid investment in sensors, robotics, vertical production and alternative proteins.
Evidence
Written sources
StrongContemporary EU regulations, EFSA opinions, FAO reports and dated facility records directly document regulatory changes, species, intended markets and major industrial developments.
Food identification
StrongRegulatory and scientific documents identify farmed species including black soldier fly, yellow mealworm, lesser mealworm, house cricket and migratory locust, along with whole, powdered, protein and oil products.
Dating
ModerateSpecific milestones in 2017, 2019 and 2021 are securely dated, but 2010–2025 represents an interpretive period of acceleration rather than a discrete beginning and end.
Preparation method
ModerateEFSA assessments directly describe controlled rearing, blanching, thermal drying and grinding for evaluated foods. Details of proprietary automated industrial processes are less completely public.
Geographic attribution
ModerateThe Netherlands is strongly supported as an important research and industrial center, including the Bergen op Zoom facility, but industrial expansion was international and did not originate solely there.
Historical interpretation
ProbableThe characterization of 2010–2025 as a period of industrial expansion is supported by facilities, research and regulatory change, although no single comprehensive dataset measures the entire global sector.
Sources
- 1.D.G.A.B. Oonincx and I.J.M. de Boer (2012). Environmental Impact of the Production of Mealworms as a Protein Source for Humans—A Life Cycle Assessment. PLoS ONE 7(12): e51145. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051145Scientific literature
- 2.Arnold van Huis, Joost Van Itterbeeck, Harmke Klunder, et al. (2013). Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security. FAO Forestry Paper 171. www.fao.org/4/i3253e/i3253e.pdfModern synthesis
- 3.Yupa Hanboonsong, Tasanee Jamjanya and Patrick B. Durst (2013). Six-Legged Livestock: Edible Insect Farming, Collection and Marketing in Thailand. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. www.fao.org/docrep/017/i3246e/i3246e.pdfModern synthesis
- 4.EFSA Scientific Committee (2015). Risk Profile Related to Production and Consumption of Insects as Food and Feed. EFSA Journal 13(10): 4257. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4257Scientific literature
- 5.European Commission (2017). Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/893 of 24 May 2017. Official Journal of the European Union. eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEHistorical primary source
- 6.Protix (2019). Dutch King Willem-Alexander Opens the World's Largest and Most Advanced Insect Farm. Protix company announcement. protix.com/discovery-centre/a-royal-openingHistorical primary source
- 7.EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (2021). Safety of Dried Yellow Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor Larva) as a Novel Food Pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. EFSA Journal 19(1): e06343. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6343Scientific literature
- 8.European Commission (2021). Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1372 of 17 August 2021. Official Journal of the European Union. eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/1372/oj/engHistorical primary source
Limitations
- moderatedescription
The phrase 'began raising insects' is too broad if read as the beginning of commercial insect farming. Documented food-insect farming predates 2010; for example, organized cricket farming began in Thailand in 1998. The period 2010–2025 is better described as industrial scale-up and automation.
- moderatedescription
The reference to circular use of 'organic by-products' requires regulatory qualification. In the EU, insects for food and feed may use specified feed materials and permitted co-products, but manure, catering waste and other unrestricted or mixed organic wastes are prohibited substrates.
- minorcoordinates
The Netherlands is a well-supported case-study location and major European center, not the sole origin of industrial insect farming, which expanded through companies and farming systems in multiple countries.
