A Day in the Life of the University of Pretoria. 29 September 2021

On this "Day in the life of the University of Pretoria" UP celebrated the "International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste" by highlighting the role played by UP scientists to address this problem. 

An article featured in the JuniorTukkie explained that in South Africa alone more than 8.6 tons of food is wasted before it is even purchased by the consumers. To address this problem, researchers from the Department of Zoology and Entomology are studying how insects can help in “waste bioconversion” or retrieving nutrients from waste using living organisms. Prof Chris Weldon explained that several of his students are examining the use of flies in bioconversion. The team found that blowflies and blackflies are especially effective in converting meat, fruit and vegetable waste. The team are further studying how to best dry the fly larvae for processing it into animal feed. 

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