Strange authorities you have.
On the other hand … The Belgian government had a campaign several years ago to buy a few BY chickens and give waste food (not rotten or bad) to your chickens.
Actually this legislation was passed in 2014 when we were in the EU, so I'm surprised it's different in the Netherlands
The official guidance on the relevant legislation is as follows:
"ABPs you cannot use
You must never use catering waste as farm animal feed, regardless of whether it’s vegetable or meat based or whether it comes from restaurants, households, or other sites.
You must never use:
- scraps and catering waste from any restaurant or commercial kitchen (including vegan kitchens)
- scraps and kitchen waste (including from vegan households)
- raw meat and fish (including shellfish) or any ABPs containing them
- fully or partially cooked meat, fish and shellfish or any ABPs containing them
- any unprocessed egg and egg products, milk and milk products or any other unprocessed products of animal origin
- collagen and gelatine from ruminants or any products containing it
- unwanted food products, meant for humans, that are decomposing, mouldy, or toxic
You cannot make or supply farm animal feed using processed animal protein (PAP) unless:
- it comes from non-ruminant animals and you’re feeding it to farmed fish
- it’s fishmeal and you’re feeding to non-ruminant animals "
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supplyi...ducts-as-farm-animal-feed#abps-you-cannot-use
ABP = animal by-products. Mealworms are not specifically mentioned in any of the legislation; dried mealworms are classified as PAP so fall under the last bit of the guidance. Live mealworms are not classified as either so are fine.
BSE was created by including sheep brains in cattle concentrate. Some of those sheep had scrapie, a degenerative disease of the nervous system. Foot and mouth and some swine diseases have also been linked with feeding the affected animals feeds made using other animal parts. I think the gross details, once they became known to legislators, and the tendency of the feed industry to find and exploit loopholes, caused an over-reaction essentially to ban all animal products from animal feed.
I think it is now widely regarded as overkill and has massively fuelled food loss and waste, and we can now make our own rules about it, so an overhaul is on the cards.
A few companies have acquired licences to experiment with these rules. In particular when it involves feeding ruminant-origin substances to non-ruminants, and vice versa. Insects, as an entirely different kind of animal, are already allowed for fish; I expect they'll be OK'd for mammals and birds in due course.
No wonder some feed companies don't list the ingredients on the bag! Corn, barley, ...Chicken poo and feathers...
