The Story of the Fly

Since 2009, Jason has been developing a new form of protein for animal feed based on fly larvae that also recycles waste nutrients and potentially saves fish becoming fishmeal. We collaborated on his first book, The Protein Crunch, to which the development of Magmeal is a practical response. Our thesis was that more people are eating more protein and that sooner or later will lead to severe shortages. Jason describes how innovative ideas can create businesses making a contribution towards sustainability, and the challenges in developing a new industrial process. Most of the book, however, tells the extraordinary story of the fly, which is both a friend and an enemy to humans. We make war on insects, but maggots have historically played an important role in cleaning wounds. There is an entertaining chapter entitled seven wonders of the fly giving details of their anatomy and the extraordinary phenomenon of landing and walking on the ceiling, which Bertrand Russell thought a good argument for the special nature of flies should there be a theological fly thinking about the existence of a Supreme Fly. It turns out that leg rubbing is simply a form of cleaning. The aerodynamics of flies are extraordinary and few people will know that flies have been sent into space. The final chapter explains in more detail the possibility of flies making a substantial contribution to protein meal eaten by monogastric farm animals. As mentioned above, this could potentially replace fishmeal and has already been successfully tested on chickens. No one reading this fascinating book will be able to think about flies in the same way again.