Quantitative risk assessment of BSE transmission if insects are reared on residual streams containing animal proteins
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Insect production can play an important role in the bioconversion of residual streams from agri-food production into valuable nutrients for feed and food and as such advance the transition from a linear to a circular food production system. However, under current EU legislation, insect rearing on residual streams containing animal proteins is not allowed because of the risk of animal disease transmission including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). In this study, a quantitative risk model was used to assess the BSE risk. The model estimates the expected exposure of cattle to BSE infectivity, expressed in cattle oral ID 50 (CoID 50 ), and the corresponding probability that this will result in at least one new BSE infection when a single BSE-infected cow escapes detection. The model was parameterized for three residual streams: former food from supermarkets (SM), kitchen food scraps from consumer households (KF), and category 2 meat meal from rendering (MM); and two insect species: yellow mealworm ( Tenebrio molitor ) (YMW) and black soldier fly ( Hermetia illucens ) larvae (BSFL). Exposure routes considered were cross-contamination of ruminant feed, grassland fertilized with pig or poultry manure or frass, and calf milk replacer. The main uncertainty in the model was the carry-over of prions from substrate to insects. A worst-case approach was used, assuming no inactivation of prions during insect rearing. Similar conservative estimates were used for other parameters describing presence and persistence of prions when no data were available. Model results indicate that the BSE infectivity to which cattle are exposed depends both on the substrate and the insect species, but was very low for all combinations assessed with a maximum median overall exposure of 5.2 × 10 −6 CoID 50 for YMW reared on KF, corresponding to a probability of at least one new BSE infection of 3.6 × 10 −6 , implying that < 1 out of 100,000 slaughtered BSE-infected cows will result in new BSE infections. We therefore conclude that insect rearing on residual streams is unlikely to result in the emergence of a new BSE epidemic.
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology
Institution: Wageningen University & Research
Language: English
Subfield: Insect Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7223317025