Good farm conditions: species-specific
guidelines.
Producers who commit to the Responsibly Raised Insects policy will review and move toward the following standards for the species of insects they rear, and reevaluate the degree to which they met these standards annually. There are times when food safety concerns might lead national law to conflict with these standards. In these cases, we require producers to follow the law in the jurisdiction they raise insects.
Black Soldier Flies.
Nutrition.
Provide appropriate food (e.g., honey) and clean water for adults in feeders/drinkers that prevent drowning.
If fasting or withholding feed prior to slaughter, do so for a maximum of 24 hours or for the shortest amount of time possible that does not impact product safety.
Animal feces is not recommended as a food source for larvae. If using animal feces as a food source, do so following the best available guidelines on reducing welfare harms, such as appropriate pre-processing, and not providing a 100% animal feces diet.
Consider using heterogeneous food sources for larvae.
Environment.
Temperature and humidity
Maintain a relative humidity of 70% minimum in larval rearing containers.
Maintain a substrate moisture level between 50% and 75% moisture content.
Reduce pre-slaughter washing (i.e., 100% moisture content) to the minimum necessary.
If using pupation substrate, moisten pupation substrate.
Stocking density
For larvae, maintain maximum stocking density of 2 larvae/cm2.
For breeding adults, maintain a maximum stocking density of 33 flies/m3.
Breeding populations
Provide wood chips or a similar loose pupation substrate to allow burying behaviors for larvae that are pupating.
Social environment
Rear larvae in age-matched batches, and don’t mix larvae of different age cohorts.
Rear adults and late-instar larvae separately.
Oxygen Content
Maintain substrates at a maximum depth of 5 cm.
Churn or aerate substrates at least every three days.
Lighting
For the 10 days following eclosion, use a 12-hour day and 12-hour night light cycle for the newly hatched adults.
If handling larvae, do so in darkened rooms, or only using red light.
Substrate
Provide wood chips, wood shavings or a similar substrate to allow burying behaviors in both the larval and prepupal stage, and for aeration of the feeding substrate at the larval stage.
Provide lekking sites for adults such as artificial plants.
Health.
Monitor insect populations for indications of disease, prevent disease and treat signs of disease using best practice according to current knowledge, including regular cleaning of rearing facilities, segregation of diseased insects, and providing continuous access to clean water.
When disease cannot be treated, isolate and humanely euthanize sick insects, disposing of them using biosafety protocols
Yellow Mealworms.
Nutrition.
Supplement mealworm diets with eggs, soy, or yeast protein (at 20% of diet by weight for larvae and 40% for adults).
Provide larvae the opportunity to self-select foods from a heterogeneous mixture of food options.
Heat treat feed prior to introduction to mealworms to a minimum of X degrees for Y minutes to prevent disease introduction.
Do not feed mealworm larvae polymers and plastics at an amount greater than 5% of the overall feed to ensure diets are nutritionally sufficient.
If fasting or withholding feed prior to slaughter, do so for a maximum of 24 hours or for the shortest amount of time possible that does not impact product safety.
Provide larvae with continuous access to clean water within 5 cm at all times
Environment.
Temperature and humidity
Maintain an RH between 70% and 75% in larval rearing containers.
Maintain temperatures between 10 °C and 37 °C at all times in a larvae’s life prior to slaughter.
Stocking density
Stock mealworms at or below 0.5 larvae/cm2.
Lighting
Use red lights when handling mealworms, and reduce the severity and duration of handling during rearing.
Provide appropriate light cycling (at least 12 hours continuous light per 24 hours) for mealworms to reduce gas outputs.
Other
Monitor and humanely slaughter severely deformed adults.
Reduce pre-slaughter washing to the minimum necessary.
Rear larvae in age-matched batches, and don’t mix larvae of different age cohorts.
Ensure good airflow through crates, and never rear larvae in sealed crates.
Provide inedible burying substrates during fasting periods.
Health.
Monitor insect populations for indications of disease, prevent disease, and treat signs of disease using best practice according to current knowledge, including regular cleaning of rearing facilities, segregation of diseased insects, and providing continuous access to clean water.
When disease cannot be treated, isolate and humanely euthanize sick insects, disposing of them using biosafety protocols.
Crickets.
Nutrition.
Grind feed to a 20 mesh particle size (0.0331 inches) prior to serving.
Provide minimally 20% protein by weight in all cricket diets.
Provide crickets the opportunity to self-select foods from a heterogeneous mixture of food options.
Supplement vitamin B-12 in crickets that are not fed animal products.
If fasting or withholding feed prior to slaughter, do so for a maximum of 24 hours or for the shortest amount of time possible that does not impact product safety.
Environment.
Temperature and humidity
Keep humidity around 70% for juveniles, and around 50% for adults. Do not exceed 75% relative humidity.
Refresh damp oviposition substrates every 24 hours to minimize the development and spread of pathogens.
Limit temperature fluctuations over time, but provide temperature gradients within a rearing space between 27 and 33 °C.
Stocking density
Rear A. domesticus at a maximum density of 0.3 crickets/cm2.
Rear G. assimilis at a maximum density of 0.37 ml crickets/L space.
Disease and health
Monitor insect populations for indications of disease, prevent disease, and treat signs of disease using best practice according to current knowledge, including regular cleaning of rearing facilities, segregation of diseased insects, and providing continuous access to clean water.
Oxygen content
Use breathable covers instead of closed lids to improve ventilation in small containers, and use active ventilation in large containers.
Lighting
If using targeted direct light to control cricket motion, provide sheltering space for crickets to avoid the lights.
Use a natural day/night cycle of lighting, providing at least four hours of UVB daily, and at least 12 hours of darkness.
If lights must be turned on during dark parts of the lighting cycle, use red lights.
Additional
Provide opportunities for flight for G. assimilis.
Provide resting places and shelters that protect crickets from light.
Provide vertical structures that allow for climbing behavior.
Minimize the frequency and duration of handling events.
Health.
Monitor insect populations for indications of disease, prevent disease, and treat signs of disease using best practice according to current knowledge, including regular cleaning of rearing facilities, segregation of diseased insects, and providing continuous access to clean water.
When disease cannot be treated, isolate and humanely euthanize sick insects, disposing of them using biosafety protocols.
Monitor for and promptly remove live individuals being cannibalized, or who are severely injured from farms, and humanely euthanize them.