Insects readily consume food waste. In the US alone 78 million tons of excess, surplus, fruits and vegetables are thrown into the landfill annually, even though they are still fit for human consumption. A major barrier to using this surplus to feed insects is the inconsistency, high variability, and unpredictability of surplus fruits and vegetables. Surplus crops change across seasons, among crops within a season, among crop varieties, and even among farms. To address this barrier to using the plentiful surplus fruits and vegetables as feed for edible insects, we developed a two step approach. First, we developed a patent pending solar drying tower to dry large quantities of food surplus, quickly and at scale, using only solar energy. The solar tower is about 40C hotter than ambient throughout the year, with a 20C gradient within the tower. The solar tower is efficient at killing pathogens reducing pathogen load from over a million bacteria/gram to a little over a thousand in about 1.5 hours. Once dry, the excess fruits and vegetables can be stored for use in step two. Knowing the protein:carbohydrate requirements of the insect, we can use the stored and dried surplus fruits and vegetables to develop a feed appropriate for that specific insect. This approach turns a highly inconsistent raw material into a consistent insect feed at very little cost. It opens up the possibility of vast amounts of food surplus as low-cost feed for edible insects at very little cost.
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