NEW TECH FOODS

London-based insect farm technology company Entocycle has partnered with Siemens to create the UK’s first fully digitalised insect farming showroom, aiming to demonstrate how insects can play a key role in addressing food waste and sustainable animal feed production.

Located under four converted Victorian railway arches near London Bridge, the site showcases Entocycle’s insect bioconversion model, which turns food waste into protein using black soldier flies. The company hopes its central location will attract investors and talent to help scale the concept globally.

Using Siemens’ digital twin technology, the facility was virtually modelled before construction to optimise space and minimise costs. The completed site now features robotic arms, AI-enabled automation systems, climate-controlled chambers and machine vision capable of monitoring thousands of larvae per second with near-perfect accuracy.

Entocycle says the digital transformation has cut insect larval growth time and increased survival rates by 30%, helping prove the feasibility of scaling up insect farming operations. The process offers potential solutions to reduce the UK’s 10.7 million tonnes of annual food waste and reliance on imported soy for animal feed.

Having completed a year of operations at the London site, Entocycle plans to expand the model to an industrial scale, targeting farms, agri-businesses and waste processors as future partners.

Matt Simonds, managing director at Entocycle, said: “We’ve spent a decade developing this concept, which has grown from equipment pieced together from hardware retailers to the bespoke and highly advanced factory we’re running today. The London Bridge centre proves our concept, which leverages the black soldier fly as nature’s recycler, that can be scaled around the world to help tackle the dual issue of food waste and sustainability issues in animal feed supply.

“Insect farming is an exciting emerging industry, and our vision is to be the go-to provider of technology to customers alongside our partner Siemens. In ten years’ time, we expect Entocycle-designed farms to be processing millions of tonnes of food waste around the world, saving millions of tonnes of carbon emissions with it. Partnering with Siemens to deliver our solution internationally provides us with the trust and scalability we need to deliver on our global ambitions.”

Keith Thornhill, head of food and beverage for UK & Ireland at Siemens, added: “Entocycle has created the blueprint for high-tech insect farming. It’s successfully applied modern manufacturing technology to its highly niche subject of rearing black soldier flies. And the outcomes are clear to see in increased insect survival rates and slashing the time staff would spend counting insects."