Thousands of hungry black soldier fly larvae are helping University of Delaware researchers study a potential way to reduce food waste by turning discarded food into compost and food for other animals. Graduate students are raising the flies with food waste collected from local restaurants and gr ains from a local brewery. Each bin starts with about 4,000 black soldier fly larvae, which researchers say can process 10 pounds of food waste every week. “The point of all this is to reduce food waste,” one of the students said. As the larvae consume the discarded food, they help turn it into compost that can be used in gardens and on farms. The flies themselves can also become food for other animals. Trinity Antoszewski, a University of Delaware graduate student, described the process as a cycle. “You eat the food, you have food waste, you give it to the flies, they eat that and then the animals and crops we have use their flies to then make more food that we can eat,” Antoszewski said. The research could eventually lead to larger-scale uses of soldier flies to address food waste. Michael Crossley, Ph.D., a University of Delaware agriculture entomologist, said the insects have relatively simple priorities. “They’re only interested in finding a mate and finding a pile of rotting stuff to lay their eggs in,” Crossley said. Crossley said about half the land humans inhabit is used to produce food, while about a third of that food never gets eaten. “Roughly half the land that we inhabit is used to produce food it about a third of that never even reaches our mouths, it goes straight into a landfill,” Crossley said. Crossley also offers a class in which University of Delaware students use insects as ingredients in recipes including chili and smoothies. He believes insects have been overlooked for the roles they could play in producing more food and reducing food waste. The work can be dirty and smelly, but the graduate students involved see the research as a way to make better use of resources that would otherwise be discarded. Ryplee Davis, a University of Delaware graduate student, said the process keeps resources in use rather than allowing them to be lost as waste. “This way, valuable nutrients and calories are being put right back into the system instead of being gone forever,” Davis said. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less