Innovafeed, a global leader in insect ingredients, and NaturAlleva, a major aquaculture feed producer and farmer, have signed a commercial partnership for the integration of black soldier fly (BSF) ingredients into aquafeed formulations for key Mediterranean species, including sea bass, sea bream, sturgeon and trout.
This partnership marks a new milestone in the large-scale commercial deployment of insect-based ingredients in aquaculture, moving beyond pilot projects and trials toward industrial and market-driven adoption.
This agreement reflects a shared ambition to accelerate the transition of insect ingredients from scientific proof points to real-world application in aquaculture production systems.
Backed by years of research and development (R&D) and support from the academic community, Innovafeed’s BSF ingredients, containing functional compounds such as chitin, lauric acid and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), have demonstrated measurable benefits as premium aquafeed ingredients. These benefits are supported by more than a decade of R&D trials conducted by NaturAlleva and several years of successful commercial use of Innovafeed’s ingredients, with accumulated data on performance and health outcomes leading to the decision to deploy them at scale across all sea bass and sea bream feed formulations, including supporting a healthy gut microbiota, enhancing robustness and stress resilience of aquatic species, and contributing positively to overall zootechnical performance.
Beyond its commercial dimension, this partnership is built for scale and innovation. Starting this month, NaturAlleva will deploy Innovafeed’s BSF ingredients at meaningful commercial volumes across its sea bass and sea bream feed formulations, while both companies will jointly invest in R&D to further investigate additional functional properties of insect-based ingredients, with a particular focus on chitin-related benefits in other aquaculture species.
This collaboration also underscores the role of insect ingredients as functional, performance-driven components in aquaculture feed formulations.
Innovafeed’s BSF is positioned not as an “alternative” ingredient, but as a complementary functional solution within existing aquafeed formulations, supporting animal performance, health and well-being, and the aquaculture sector’s long-term sustainability objectives.
The partnership focuses on Mediterranean species that are central to the region’s aquaculture production, reinforcing the relevance of insect ingredients for mainstream markets.
