News & Events
News & Event
Poultrynsect at INSECTA CONFERENCE 2022
14-16/09/2022
Dr. Francesco Gai (project coordinator) and Dr. Ilaria Biasato attended INSECTA Conference, in Gießen (Germany), in September 14-16, 2022.
The event gathered more than 230 participants from about 30 countries, creating an innovative space to discuss about a great diversity of topics and inspiring keynotes like:
• Insect Rearing and Production Systems
• Insect Processing for Food and Feed
• Safety and Environmental Aspects
• Non-food Application of Insects
INSECTA conference definitely distinguished itself as a key event for the insect farming sector!
Poultrynsect at the 26th World’s Poultry Congress 2022
7-11/08/2022
Livestock, as many agri-food sectors, is also facing major challenges in the near future. The poultry sector is expected to meet the needs of the world population as well, looking for more sustainable production systems able to cope with the growing demand of affordable animal protein.
These were some of the topic discussed at the 26th edition of the World Poultry Congress in Paris, gathering members all over the world, from universities to industries.
Dr. Valentina Bongiorno, on behalf of Poultrynsect, took part to the event with a poster containing more results from our first trial ”BSF live larvae as environmental enrichment in medium-growing chicken diet”.
Congratulations Valentina!
Poultrynsect, graduate his first MSc student
18/07/2022
Congratulations to Dr. @Federico Prai, one of our Unito Veterinary students, that chose our project for his master degree final discussion.
He successfully concluded his path as a vet student with his final elaborate titled: “Growth performances and gut health of organic Label Nacked Neck chickens supplemented with Hermetia illucens live larvae“.
On behalf of the Poultrynsect team, we wish the best to Federico for his vet career in the poultry sector!
Poultrynsect at the 4th Insects to Feed the World Conference 2022
12-16/06/2022
Members from CNR, UNITO, DIL and Inagro partners of the multidisciplinary research team of the Poultrynsect project attended the 4th Insects to Feed the World (IFW) Conference 2022 held from 12th to 16th June in Quebec City, Canada, https://www.ifw2020.org/en
IFW is an event, gathering academics and experts from around the world to exchange on the latest advancements in the field of edible insects and entotechnologies. This international conference is a unique opportunity to propel edible insects as an integral part in the future of sustainable agriculture and food systems.
Two oral communications and one poster were presented during the IFW conference by Dr. Valentina Bongiorno, Dr. Beatriz Silva and Dr. Valeria Zambotto, UNITO, DIL and CNR team members, respectively. The communications reported results about growth performance and meat sensorial analysis of a medium growing poultry genotype reared in the first poultry trial carried out during the Autumn 2021.
Congratulations to all!#insect #farming
Poultrynsect at the 7thMediterranean Poultry Summit
08-10/06/2022
At 7thMediterranean Poultry Summit (MPS) held in Cordoba, Spain, http://www.mpn-wpsa.org/spain2020/index.php/en/
Dr. Marta Gariglio, DSVUNITO team member, presenting some of our first poultry trial results with a poster titled: “Blood chemistry of medium-growing male and female chickens supplemented with black soldier fly larvae”. Congratulations Marta!#insect #farming
The MPS is one of the main events of the poultry sector in the year 2022. Delegates from all over the Mediterranean area meet every two years to participate in the summit program and get in touch with colleagues.
Mid-term meeting of Poultrynsect project
24/05/2022
#Poultrynsect teams finally meet each other in person, for the mid-term meeting at #DIL headquarter in Quakenbruck, Lowe Saxony in Germany. A fruitful day, full of updates and interesting discussions with all the members.
The meeting was followed by a technical visit to DIL #insectfarm, focused on #Hermetia illucens rearing. During the guided tour Mr. Clemens große Macke, owner of the animal farm Geflügelhof gr. Macke GmbH, explain us insect rearing activities done in collaboration with DIL team members.

Insects in animal feed at NutriFORUM2022
20th April 2022
Prof. Achille Schiavone, principal investigator of the Università degli Studi di Torino (UNITO) team, took part to #NutriFORUM2022 in Lleida (Spain) with the following talk: “Insects in poultry and pig feed: ingredient, supplement or environmental enrichment?”. The large audience and the lively interactions that followed his speech show how this topic never fails to engage discussions and interest around it.
Training internship at INAGRO insect rearing facility
08/03/2022
Dr. Valentina Bongiorno & Dr. Sara Bellezza Oddon, PhD students of the UNITO team, starts their training internship at INAGRO insect rearing facility in Belgium.
Valentina and Sara for the next two months will work side by side with INAGRO insect team in order to learn the latest techniques about insect farming at a semi-industrial level.
Thank you very much @Carl Coudron and @Jonas Claeys for hosting #Poultrynsect students in your facility!
#teamwork #blacksoldierfly #sustainability #susfood #coreorganic


“POULTRYNSECT” workshop
23th November 2021
#Poultrynsect went live with the workshop “POULTRYNSECT: an update on the use of insects as animal feed” held at the AgroVet university campus in Grugliasco, NW Italy.
During the workshop four speakers (3 of them, partners of the project CNR, UNITO and DIL) gave their talks about different aspects of the use of insects as animal feed informing the audience about the recent changes in the European law legislation and the use of LCA as a tool to evaluate the environmental impact of the animal productions. The workshop was concluded by a speech given by Bugslife founders, an Italian insect producing startup. At the end of the presentations, a lively and animated Q&A session with in presence and on line participants has been successfully developed.
The full workshop registration (in English) could be saw at the link below!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wjA–VBnDB8djdaj30QyIwTDxODVetGV/view?usp=drive_web
Poultrynsect at SANA 2021
10th September 2021
Dr. Francesco Gai coordinator of the #poultrynsect project participates at the 33rd international exhibition of organic and natural products SANA 2021, the most important fair trade for business operators and customer of the organic market in Italy, as part of the conference “The future of food: if not now, when?” organized by #ccpb, stakeholder of the project.
EAAP Annual Meeting 2021
1th September 2021
Dr. Dusan Ristic from German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) team present some of the first results of #poultrynsect at 72nd Annual Meeting of EAAP – European Federation of Animal Science in Davos, Switzerland. More results, presentations and publications coming, so stay tuned!.
Poultrynsect at EAAP Annual Meeting 2021
5th May 2021
Dr. Dusan Ristic member of the German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) team will give an oral presentation titled: “Environmental impact of feeds utilized for poultry protein productions: soybean vs insect larvae” at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science that will be held from 30th August to 3rd September in Davos, Switzerland.
Talk about local chickens breeds at Due Punti Festival
4th May 2021
Prof. Achille Schiavone, principal investigator of the Università degli Studi di Torino (UNITO) team, gave a talk at the Due Punti Festival a Public engagement initiative, focused on scientific divulgation of Food, Ecosystems and Culture arguments, organized by the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Sciences in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Sciences of UNITO. Achille during her talk explained the importance of the biodiversity of the local poultry breeds and their role in the sustainability of the economy of the small farmers. Among the local poultry breeds reviewed, someone such as the Bianca di Saluzzo or Bionda Piemontese breeds will be investigated during the Poultrynsect project.
The full talk (in Italian) could be listen here:
https://www.facebook.com/duepuntifestival/videos/965907067283649
Poultrynsect meet the poultry chain stakeholders
12th April 2021
A webinar was held with the aim of making the Poultrynsect project known to the Italian public. The web meeting (“Poultrynsect incontra gli stakeholders della Filiera Avicola”) was very successful, bringing the public and the Italian researchers closer to the topics of the project. The presentation of the poultry breeds useful to biological production and their welfare, the role of the sensorial analyses in the valorization of the biological poultry meat, together with the sustainability of these productions were the main themes of the webinar. The public was really interested in these issues, since there is in general and increasing attention by the consumers to animal welfare, biological productions and climate changes. Indeed, from a short questionnaire proposed to the audience, a great interest emerged on animal welfare, insects rearing, and environmental sustainability.
Poultrynsect SF/CO kick-off meeting
23rd February 2021
The Poultrynsect project was presented within the 12 research projects selected for funding by the ERA-NET SUSFOOD2 and CORE Organic Call Board. During this kick-off meeting Dr. Francesco Gai coordinator of the project and member of the CNR team gave a pitch illustrating the aims and the scopes of the project that were summarized in a graphical abstract readable in a easy way for the participants attending the on line meeting.
Poultrynsect kick-off meeting
11th January 2021
The Poultrynsect project kick-off meeting took place on 11th January 2021. The kick-off agenda started with an introduction to the Poultrynsect project, followed by the description of the Work Packages (WPs) related to insect rearing, poultry trials, laboratory and sensorial analyses, economic and environmental sustainability assessments. The discussion between the partners was very fruitful and possible solutions about potential critical issues has been proposed. A future meeting, discussing the advancement of the project, has been planned for the month of June 2021.