Composition comprising protein, and method of preparation and use thereof

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of preparing a composition comprising protein, or increasing a content of protein of a composition, wherein the method comprises fermenting a mixture comprising waste from dates; a composition comprising protein; use of a composition comprising protein as a feed for larvae; feed for larvae wherein the feed comprises a composition comprising protein; and a method of feeding larvae by giving or administering the feed to larvae.

Description

[0001]Composition comprising protein, and method of preparation and use thereof Field of the invention The present invention relates to a method of preparing a composition comprising protein, a method of increasing a content of protein of a composition, a composition comprising protein, use of a composition comprising protein as a feed for larvae, feed for larvae comprising a composition comprising protein, and a method of feeding larvae by giving or administering the feed to larvae. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method which comprises fermenting a mixture comprising waste from dates. Background of the invention The possibility of using insects and larvae for waste management or as a protein source is becoming increasingly important to our society and mass breeding of insects and larvae is still in their infancy. Prominent examples of species proposed for the indicated applications include the black soldier fly (BSF) (Hermetia illucens) and the house fly (HF) (Musca domestics). Larvae are usually rich in protein and fat, and can be widely applied to several fields of technology. In the breeding process, the content of active ingredients such as protein, fat and the like contained in the larvae can be influenced by the components of the breeding materials. Generally, the larvae have voracious appetites and are able to feed on a wide variety of organic matter. The length of the larval stage depends on the food substrates and nutrient content provided to the larvae. The length of larval stage may be delayed by months due to low temperature, lack of food and lack of food with suitable nutrient content. It would be desirable to provide new and improved ingredients and compositions that can be used as a feed for larvae. Further, it would be desirable to provide new and improved methods for preparing such ingredients and compositions that can be used as a feed for larvae. Summary of the invention It is an object of the present invention to provide ingredients and a composition that can be used as a feed for larvae. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of preparing ingredients and a composition that can be used as a feed for larvae. The present invention makes it possible to use organic waste and convert it to a useful composition, make use of few and cheap raw materials, increase the content of protein and provide a composition rich in protein. Further, the present invention provides a method which is simple and efficient, environmentally friendly, and provides a composition that can be used and is suitable for use as a feed for larvae. Further, the present invention makes it possible to improve the efficiency of breeding of larvae, e.g. by providing a feed ingredient rich in protein and achieving an advantageous length of the larval stage, thus improving larval production. Hereby the present invention also leads to environmental and economic benefits. Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention relates to a method of preparing a composition comprising protein, wherein the method comprises fermenting a mixture comprising waste from dates. In another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of increasing a content of protein of a composition, wherein the method comprises fermenting a mixture comprising waste from dates. In another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of preparing a composition comprising protein, wherein the method comprises: (i) providing a mixture comprising waste from dates and microbes; (ii) allowing the microbes to ferment at least part of the mixture to form protein. In another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of increasing a content of protein of a composition, wherein the method comprises: (i) providing a mixture comprising waste from dates and microbes; (ii) allowing the microbes to ferment at least part of the mixture to form protein. In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to a composition comprising protein and an at least partly fermented mixture comprising waste from dates. In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to a composition comprising protein obtainable by a method, as defined herein. In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to a use of a composition comprising protein, as defined herein, as a feed for larvae. In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to a feed for larvae, wherein the feed comprises a composition comprising protein, as defined herein. In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of feeding larvae, wherein the method comprises giving or administering a feed, as defined herein, to the larvae. These and other objects and aspects of the invention will be described in further detail hereinafter. Detailed description of the invention The present invention generally relates to: (i) a method of preparing a composition comprising protein, or increasing a content of protein of a composition, wherein the method comprises: a) fermenting a mixture comprising waste from dates; or b) providing a mixture comprising waste from dates and microbes, and allowing the microbes to ferment at least part of the mixture to form protein; (ii) a composition comprising protein and an at least partly fermented mixture comprising waste from dates; (iii) a composition comprising protein obtainable by the method, as defined herein; (iv) use of the composition comprising protein, as defined herein, as a feed for larvae; (v) feed for larvae, wherein the feed comprises a composition comprising protein, as defined herein; and (vi) a method of feeding larvae by giving or administering the feed, as defined herein, to the larvae. The term “fermenting”, as used herein, refers to a method in which a mixture comprising waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate, is treated with microbes, also referred to herein as microorganisms and / or bacteria, to at least partly decompose and / or change the composition of the waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate, in order to form proteins, increase the content of protein, release proteins and / or make proteins available, preferably to at least form proteins and / or increase the content of protein. The term “fermenting substance”, as used herein, refers to a substance used for fermenting, as defined herein, which substance comprises microbes, waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate. The fermenting substance may be an aqueous phase, e.g., an aqueous liquid, solution, suspension, dispersion or emulsion. The mixture of the invention comprises waste from dates which may be selected from the group consisting of leaves, stalk, stem, fronds, midrib, old fruit, unripe fruit, and mixtures thereof. In addition to waste of dates, the mixture may comprise one or more further sources of carbohydrate. Examples of suitable such further sources of carbohydrate include meat of any fruit, waste of any fruit other than dates, sugar cane and sugar beet as well as products obtained therefrom, e.g. by refining, such as molasses. Examples of suitable meat of any fruits include ripe dates, mango, banana, pineapple, and coconut. Examples of suitable waste of any fruit other than dates include skin, peel, seeds, leaves, stalk, stem, fronds, midrib, old fruit and unripe fruit of any fruit other than dates, including mango, banana, pineapple, and coconut. Examples of preferred further sources of carbohydrate comprise one or more of mango waste, including mango skin and seeds, banana waste, including banana peel, and molasses. The mixture of the invention may comprise at least partly finely divided waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate. In this context, the mixture preferably comprises finely divided particles of waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate, having a particle size of less than 10 mm, or less than 5 mm, or less than 3 mm. Examples of suitable methods of finely dividing the mixture, or one or more ingredients of the mixture, include squeezing, chopping, cutting, and grinding, preferably grinding. The mixture of the invention may comprise waste from dates in an amount of at least 40% by weight, suitably at least 50% by weight, usually from 50 to 95% by weight, suitably from 50 to 85% by weight, preferably from 60 to 80% by weight, for example around 75% by weight. Examples of suitable mixtures of the invention include those comprising from 50 to 95% by weight of waste of dates and from 5 to 50% by weight of one or more further sources of carbohydrate; suitably the mixture comprises from 50 to 85% by weight of waste of dates and from 15 to 50% by weight of one or more further sources of carbohydrate; and preferably the mixture comprises from 60 to 80% by weight of waste of dates and 20 to 40% by weight of one or more further sources of carbohydrate; wherein the one or more further sources of carbohydrate preferably comprises one or more of mango waste, including mango skin and seeds, banana waste, including banana peel, and molasses. Examples of further suitable mixtures of the invention include those comprising from 50 to 95% by weight, suitably from 50 to 85% by weight and preferably from 60 to 80% by weight of waste of dates; up to 50% by weight, suitably up to 20% by weight, e.g. from 0 to 20% by weight, suitably from 10 to 20% by weight of waste and / or meat from mango, and preferably about 15% by weight of waste and / or meat from mango, e.g. meat, skin and / or seeds; up to 50% by weight, suitably up to 15% by weight, e.g. from 0 to 15% by weight, or from 5 to 15% by weight of meat and / or waste of banana, e.g. meat and / or peel, and preferably about 10% by weight of meat and / or waste of banana. According to the invention, the mixture may be kept at ambient temperature to allow the microbes to ferment at least part of the mixture comprising waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate, to form proteins, or to convert fibres, or vegetable fibres, into proteins. The mixture may be kept for at least 15 minutes, or 30 minutes, or at least 60 minutes, and up to several days, or up to 1 day, or up to 12 hours, or up to 5 hours, preferably for around 2 hours, to allow the microbes ferment at least part of the mixture to form proteins, or to convert fibres into proteins. The ambient temperature may be a temperature in the range of from 15 to 40°C, preferably from 22 to 30°C. The microbes, also referred to as microorganisms and bacteria, of the invention are able to convert fibres into proteins in a fermentation process. Examples of suitable microbes include Lactobacillus casei, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Streptomyces albus, Aspergillus oryzae, and Rhodopseudomonas palustris. Preferably, the fibres are vegetable fibres. Further, the proteins are preferably digestible proteins, i.e., the proteins are digestible for one or more animals, mammals, insects and / or larvae, including black soldier fly and house fly larvae. For use in the method of the invention, the microbes may be provided in the form of an aqueous liquid or fermenting substance. The aqueous liquid or fermenting substance may contain water, microbes and optionally one or more sources of carbohydrate. Examples of suitable sources of carbohydrate include the one or more further sources of carbohydrate mentioned herein, preferably molasses. Examples of suitable aqueous liquids or fermenting substance mixtures of the invention include those containing water in an amount of from 85 to 99% by weight, or from 90 to 98% by weight; microbes in an amount of from 0.5 to 5% by weight, or from 1 to 3% by weight; and one or more sources of carbohydrate in an amount of from 0 to 5% by weight, or from 1 to 4% by weight, e.g. molasses. The fermenting substance may be kept for several days, e.g. at least 2 days, of from 5 to 30 days, or from 10 to 20 days, usually around 14 days, prior to mixing it with the mixture of the invention. The fermenting substance may be kept at ambient temperature, e.g. a temperature in the range of from 15 to 40°C, preferably from 22 to 30°C. According to the invention, the larvae may be selected from any larvae. Preferably, the larvae are selected from the group consisting of black soldier fly (BSF) (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL), house fly (HF) (Musca domestica) larvae, and blow fly (Calliphoridae) larvae, and mixtures thereof. Preferably, the larvae are black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) (Hermetia illucens). The larvae may be selected from larvae in any developmental stage, including larvae of the elateriform, eruciform, caterpillar-like, scarabaeiform, vermiform, maggot-like, and campodeiform body types. Preferably, the larvae are in the developmental stage of maggot-like form, or from 4 to 14 days. Preferably, according to the invention, it is possible to increase the content of protein of a composition by at least 5%, or at least 10%, or at least 15%, or at least 20%, or at least 25%. Examples The invention is further illustrated in the following non-limiting example. Parts and % relate to parts by weight and % by weight, respectively, and all solutions are aqueous, unless otherwise stated. Example 1 This example describes a method of preparing a composition, method of increasing the content of protein, a composition, use, feed and method of feeding larvae according to the invention. A fermenting substance was prepared by mixing water (95% by weight), molasses (3% by weight), and a mixture of microbes (2% by weight) containing Lactobacillus casei, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Streptomyces albus, Aspergillus oryzae, and Rhodopseudomonas Palustris, and kept at ambient temperature for 14 days. A mixture of organic waste was prepared from date waste comprising date stem, dry leaves, fronds / midrib (75% by weight), mango waste comprising mango meat, skin and seeds (15% by weight) and banana waste essentially consisting of banana peel (10% by weight). The mixed waste was grinded with a grinding machine having a 1-2 mm coarse mesh. Thereafter, the fermenting substance was added to the mixture of grinded organic waste (17% by weight of fermenting substance based on total organic waste), and then water was added (10% water based on total organic waste), whereupon the resulting mixture was mixed and kept at ambient temperature for 120 minutes to allow the microbes ferment at least part of the mixture to form proteins, and to convert fibres into proteins. The mixture of organic waste of dates, mango and banana used in the example had a content of protein of 35%, whereas the fermented mixture obtained by the method of the invention had a content of protein of 45%. Accordingly, the method and composition according to the invention showed a significantly higher content of protein. The obtained fermented mixture was given as a feed to black soldier fly larvae, at a development stage of 4 to 14 days. The larvae ate the fermented mixture and grew as expected or better than expected.

Claims

Claims 1. Method of preparing a composition comprising protein, or increasing a content of protein of a composition, wherein the method comprises: a) fermenting a mixture comprising waste from dates; or b) providing a mixture comprising waste from dates and microbes, and allowing the microbes to ferment at least part of the mixture to form protein, wherein the mixture comprises one or more further sources of carbohydrate, and wherein the one or more further sources of carbohydrate comprise one or more of mango waste, banana waste, and molasses.

2. Composition comprising protein and an at least partly fermented mixture comprising waste from dates, wherein the mixture comprises one or more further sources of carbohydrate, and wherein the one or more further sources of carbohydrate comprise one or more of mango waste, banana waste, and molasses.

3. Method according to claim 1, or composition according to claim 2, wherein the one or more further sources of carbohydrate comprise one or more of mango waste, including mango skin and seeds, banana waste, including banana peel, and molasses.

4. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 3, wherein the mixture comprises from 50 to 95% by weight of waste of dates and from 5 to 50% by weight of one or more further sources of carbohydrate; suitably the mixture comprises from 50 to 85% by weight of waste of dates and from 15 to 50% by weight of one or more further sources of carbohydrate; and preferably the mixture comprises from 60 to 80% by weight of waste of dates and 20 to 40% by weight of one or more further sources of carbohydrate.

5. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 4, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the mixtures comprises from 50 to 85% by weight of waste of dates; preferably the mixture comprises from 50 to 85% by weight of waste of dates, up to 20% by weight of waste from mango, and up to 15% by weight of waste of banana.

6. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 5, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the mixture is kept at ambient temperature to allow the microbes to ferment at least part of the mixture comprising waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate, to form protein; preferably to convert fibers into protein.

7. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 6, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the mixture comprises at least partly finely divided waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate; preferably the mixture comprises finely divided particles of waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate, having a particle size of less than 10 mm, or less than 5 mm, or less than 3 mm; and more preferably the mixture comprises finely divided particles of waste from dates, and optionally one or more further sources of carbohydrate, obtained by squeezing, chopping, cutting or grinding, wherein the finely divided particles have a size of less than 10 mm, or less than 5 mm, or less than 3 mm.

8. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 7, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the waste from dates is selected from the group consisting of leaves, stalk, stem, fronds, midrib, old fruit, and unripe fruit, and mixtures thereof.

9. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 8, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 8, wherein the mixture is kept for a time period to allow the microbes to ferment at least part of the mixture to form protein, or to convert fibers into protein; preferably the time period is at least 15 minutes, or at least 30 minutes, or at least 60 minutes, and up to several days, or up to 1 day, or up to 12 hours, or up to 5 hours; more preferably the time period is about 2 hours.

10. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 9, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 9, wherein the mixture is kept at ambient temperature to allow the microbes ferment at least part of the mixture to form protein, or to convert fibres into protein; preferably kept at a temperature of from 22 to 30°C.

11. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 10, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 10, wherein the microbes comprise one or more of Lactobacillus casei, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Streptomyces albus, Aspergillus oryzae, and Rhodopseudomonas palustris.

12. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 11, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 9, wherein the microbes are provided in the form of a fermenting substance further comprising water and one or more sources of carbohydrate; preferably the fermenting substance is kept for several days, or from 10 to 20 days, or around 14 days, prior to mixing the fermenting substance with the mixture.

13. Method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 12, or composition according to any one of claims 2 to 12, wherein the microbes are provided in the form of a fermenting substance further comprising water and one or more sources of carbohydrate, wherein the fermenting substance is kept at ambient temperature prior to mixing the fermenting substance with the mixture; preferably kept at a temperature in the range of from 15 to 40°C, preferably from 22 to 30°C.

14. Composition comprising protein obtainable by a method according to any one of claims 1 and 3 to 13.

15. Use of a composition comprising protein according to any one of claims 2 to 14 as a feed for larvae.

16. Feed for larvae, wherein the feed comprises a composition comprising protein according to any one of claims 2 to 14.

17. A method of feeding larvae by giving or administering a feed according to claim 16 to the larvae.

18. Use according to claim 15, feed according to claim 16, or method according to claim 17, wherein the larvae are selected from the group consisting of black soldier fly (BSF) larvae, house fly (HF) larvae, and mixtures thereof, preferably black soldier fly (BSF) larvae.

19. Method according to any one of claims 1, 3 to 13 and 17, composition according to any one of claims 2 to 14, use according to any one of claims 15 and 18, or feed according to claim 16, wherein the fibers are vegetable fibers, and / or the protein is digestible protein.