Northern Europe’s largest insect factory opens in Denmark

Enorm Biofactory’s new facility is located in Eastern Jutland covering 22,000 square meters and is set to produce over 10,000 tons of insect meal per year.

Credits: Enorm Biofactory

December 6, 2023

Enorm Biofactory opened the doors to the largest insect factory in Northern Europe, which is set to produce over 10,000 tons of insect meal per year using byproducts from the food industry.

Covering 22,000 square meters, processing 100 tons of black soldier fly larvae per day, and yielding more than 10,000 tons of insect meal annually, the newly constructed factory is placed in Eastern Jutland, Denmark.

The leadership behind Enorm Biofactory consists of Carsten Lind Pedersen, Jane Lind Sam (father and daughter), and Arne Holst Lauridsen.

“Today, we celebrate several years of hard work, where skilled colleagues and numerous partners have made this project possible. Now, the next phase begins, where we need to scale up the production to full operation,” said Carsten Lind Pedersen, co-founder and CEO of Enorm Biofactory.

The construction of the insect factory has been underway since 2022, with various stakeholders, including the agricultural company, DLG, that became co-owner of Enorm Biofactory. The opening of the factory is also met with enthusiasm at DLG.

“This project is a textbook example of the direction our business is moving towards. Enorm Biofactory is a fantastic story of Danish innovation that can provide alternative protein sources for farmers. Now, we look forward to the production getting underway and being commercialized,” said Jesper Pagh, Group COO at DLG.

“We are now ready to receive large quantities of byproducts from the food industry. A prime example is Arla Foods Ingredients P/S, which can reduce their food waste by 16% from their factory, Danmark Protein, in Videbæk. This is because byproducts from production are upcycled into feed instead of being sold for biogas. We hope that more Danish food producers will take responsibility for recycling nutrients through larvae because circularity is one of the keys to developing a sustainable food industry,” said Pedersen. “We were recently told that we were the 'best-kept secret' in the insect industry. That's no longer the case. Now we are going to sell some products.”