Polinela Researches Using Maggots to Process Food Waste from the Free Nutritious Meals Programme

Lampung State Polytechnic (Polinela) is researching the use of black soldier fly (BSF) larvae, or maggots, as a technology for processing organic waste from the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme. The aim is to reduce the burden of waste while producing useful by-products.

Polinela lecturer Sarono said in an interview in South Lampung on Friday that the study tested six types of food waste: fried chicken, fried catfish, fried tofu and tempeh, eggs, white bread and sweet bread. The tests also compared waste that had undergone spontaneous fermentation for three days and 15 days.

“The results show that waste containing protein from fried catfish had the highest numerical bioconversion efficiency, at 23.05 per cent. However, statistically, this result was not significantly different from that for fried chicken, eggs, and tofu and tempeh,” he said.

The findings indicate that the characteristics of food affect the larvae’s performance in processing organic waste, meaning that waste should be sorted by food type before treatment.

“The study recorded an average reduction in waste weight of 94.44 per cent for the fresh-waste group and 94.64 per cent for the older-waste group,” Sarono said.

However, the reduction in weight cannot all be attributed to the larvae breaking down organic matter, as changes in moisture content and evaporation may also affect the measurements.

He said the technology could provide an alternative for managing waste from the MBG programme, particularly at Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPGs), helping ensure that the programme to improve public nutrition also takes environmental considerations into account.

Polinela also stressed the need for further testing and pilot projects before the technology is rolled out more widely.