Risk of transmission of potentially harmful bacteria and viruses to poultry and humans by feeding live insect larvae to laying hens

Due to the global increase in the demand for poultry meat, the demand in the poultry food sector is also increasing. The meat quality and food safety of broilers is an ongoing challenge,not only from a human health point of view, but also for animal health and welfare. In this context, the potential use of alternative protein sources such as (meal from) farmed insects is feed and food considered sustainable, feasible and promising for the diet for poultry and others production animals.

Despite their advantage as an energy-efficient high-quality protein source for feed/food and input as a sustainable strategy to upcycle different waste streams by converting them into biomass is the contribution of insect microbiota cultures as a potential source of potential transport of pathogenic bacteria still poorly studied. Therefore, we are interested in investigating the microbial network involved and the possible risk implications for colonization with bacterial pathogens and viruses that affect the microbial community in poultry with the aim of improving safety and hygiene standards in the growing insect industry. The genetic background of a range of culture collections, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria isolated from cultured insects will be analyzed for the presence of antibiotic resistance genes, mobile elements and virulence genes. Next, high throughput metagenomics analysis is used to analyze the bacterial and virus microbial community Black Soldier Fly Larvae Hermetia illucens, mealworm Tenebrio molitor and the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) to evaluate their potential risk of transporting pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Finally, we will conduct an in vitro chicken gut model to assess the risk of transmission and transmission rate of potential poultry and identify human bacterial pathogens in cultured insects by culture-dependent and independent analysis.

Our results will contribute to some understanding of the role of farmed insects in the transmission of potential poultry and human bacterial pathogens, viruses, promoting the spread of antibiotic/disinfection resistance genes and the possible health implications in poultry.