Automated insect protein factory to launch Q1 2022

Aspire Food Group is constructing a new facility in Canada for food-grade insect protein production using Dematic Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) technology. The site will be used to produce crickets for processing into edible proteins, using advanced technology to facilitate the automated growing and processing of the insects.

Dematic will implement an 11-storey, high-density automated storage system using totes to breed and mature crickets prior to processing for pet and human consumption. Integrating with other technology providers, totes will be monitored to ensure food-grade quality using the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and sensors that provide data to deep-learning artificial intelligence (AI) technology to optimise conditions for maturation, breeding and incubation.

The AS/RS technology will be used in a number of ways too. It will reduce the amount of human touch required in the food production process, provide oversight for accuracy across each of the system’s totes and  optimise space in the site to maximise production. Other technologies will be used for the control of temperature and humidity in each tote.

The site will feature a substantial number of these totes — 96,000 in all — and will produce 20,000 tonnes of cricket protein and frass (a waste that is used for fertiliser and soil supplements) each year.

The technologies being used have yet to be combined for this sort of farming before: the site will be the first time that IIoT sensors, AS/RS and AI have been used together for a climate-controlled, indoor vertical agriculture system that uses living organisms.

The project is expected to be completed in Q1 of 2022. It will be constructed in London, Ontario.

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