Coordinator of Animal Biosafety Center for Animal Quarantine and Animal Biosafety of the Animal Quarantine Agency (Barantan) of the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan), Sri Endah Ekandari revealed, the potential for maggot exports to Europe is very large. She said that currently Indonesia's export volume for these commodities is still small. "The opportunity (exports to Europe) is still big. However, the requirements are very strict. Why is that? Actually, it is not the Government of Indonesia that complicates these requirements. This simply fulfills the requirements set by the destination country," she said in a discussion entitled Maggot Export Strategy to Europe, Thursday (29/9). Each export destination country imposes different requirements for accepting incoming commodities. Exporters must comply with these requirements, including Indonesian exporters, if they wish to export. One of them is to Europe. Endah explained that until now Indonesia did not have any protocol with the European side for maggot products. “This is purely for us to meet the technical requirements set by Europe. For us, for maggot, Indonesia has not yet had a protocol agreement with export destination countries," said Endah. Maggot is another name for black soldier fly (BSF) larvae. Maggot has been booming in the last 4-5 years. Apart from being a solution to the waste problem, the high protein and amino acid content in maggot can be a premium food for various types of poultry, fish and pets such as birds, cats, dogs, and chickens. According to her, the detailed and layered requirements set by Europe have a positive impact on maggot business players, namely encouraging quality improvement and maintaining production continuity. "So it's not just difficult. This is a requirement," he said. Exporters of maggot from Indonesia to Europe took a long time. The process is also lengthy to get approval from regulators on the continent. Each product to be exported, she said, must be registered and verified separately.
If you have registered on the TRAces portal (TRAde Control and Expert System) or the system that issues sanitary and phytosanitary certifications for EU export-import products, Endah explained, you will immediately be able to export to EU member countries. Without the need to re-register to each destination country. “When we can export, we are only asked to fill out the certificates that they have prepared. Later the company must be able to fill out the certificate. Later there will be training (from Barantan) for those who have passed (for export)," said Endah. Maggot is exported in the form of dried larvae. Besides larvae, this animal product has the potential to be exported in the form of larvae flour and animal oil. Maggot and its derivatives are generally used for pet and livestock feed because they have a high enough protein. She further said that maggot exported to Europe must be fed with palm oil cake, not fed with garbage like many developed in Indonesia. "This is of course if we want to sell products to Europe, we must meet these requirements," he concluded.
