Strengthening KU Leuven Campus Geel as Centre of Excellence for industrial insect research

Industrial insect production is now widely accepted as an agricultural activity, that offers a sustainable strategy to produce a high-quality protein source for feed/food and upcycle various organic waste streams. At KU Leuven Campus Geel, the research group of Lab4Food took the momentum of the emerging sector and established with success a research line on “industrial rearing and processing of insects”. To expand the research line, KU Leuven invested in a pilot hall for insect rearing, processing and research on Campus Geel. With this new facility, the campus is well equipped for its positioning as a central hub at KU Leuven for all questions related to industrial insect rearing. This Impulse project will catalyze this evolution, as it (i) boosts the involvement of more KU Leuven researchers in the opportunities of the pilot plant via the generation of project proposals for external funding, (ii) intensifies cooperation with industry and (iii) increases the visibility of the Center of Excellence.

Keywords:Insect, Industrial rearing, Industrial processing, Molecular biology, Plant production, Animal production

Disciplines:Invertebrate biology, Community ecology, Bacteriology, Microbiomes, Plant biochemistry, Plant developmental and reproductive biology, Microbiomics, Transcriptomics, Environmental monitoring, Agricultural plant protection, Biosensors, Process engineering not elsewhere classified, Food sensory sciences