Protix ProteinX® dried insect meal 0.82 kg CO2e/kg (IMPACT 2002+, cradle-to-gate) vs UK beef 23.43 kg CO2e/kg deadweight (AHDB/EBLEX Roadmap 3, cradle-to-farm-gate). Processing, packaging and distribution excluded on both sides. Supplier-specific: Protix Bergen op Zoom only.

 

Protix LCA data can be review HERE: Making better Bugs: Improving black soldier fly production for a more sustainable future - Science Direct

 

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652625015902)

 

How we calculate our ingredient emissions comparison

We compare the insect protein ingredient in our recipes to UK beef on a per-kg basis, using cradle-to-gate (insect) vs cradle-to-farm-gate (UK beef) life-cycle boundaries. This is not a whole-product comparison.

 

What the claim refers to

• Claim shown in ads: “Our insect protein ingredient has ~28× lower CO₂e per kg than UK beef.”

• Scope: Ingredient-level only. Processing, packaging and distribution are excluded on both sides.

• Functional unit: 1 kg ingredient.

• Method for insect factors: IMPACT 2002+ (from the peer-reviewed Protix LCA).

• Boundary alignment*: Insect = cradle-to-gate. UK beef = cradle-to-farm-gate (carcass weight).

• Supplier specificity: Insect factors apply only to Protix-sourced ProteinX® and PureeX® produced at Protix’s Bergen op Zoom facility.

 

The numbers (IMPACT 2002+)

• Protix ProteinX® (dried insect meal): 0.82 kg CO₂e per kg

• Protix PureeX® (insect purée): 0.31 kg CO₂e per kg

• UK beef (British beef herd, carcass weight, farm-gate): 23.43 kg CO₂e per kg

Ratios shown in ads

• ProteinX vs UK beef: 23.43 ÷ 0.82 ≈ 28.6× lower

• PureeX vs UK beef: 23.43 ÷ 0.31 ≈ 75.6× lower
  (If an ad references PureeX, we use the 75× figure with the same scope notes.)

 

Sources

• Insect ingredients: Peer-reviewed Protix LCA (Making better Bugs: Improving black soldier fly production for a more sustainable future - Science Direct). Method: IMPACT 2002+; system: cradle-to-gate; allocation: mass-economic; primary data year 2023; site: Bergen op Zoom; background DBs: ecoinvent 3.10, AgriFootprint 6.1; electricity from wind.

• UK beef benchmark: EBLEX/AHDB Beef & Sheep Roadmap — Phase 3: Down to Earth (2012), Table 1. English beef average 23.43 kg CO₂e/kg deadweight, cradle-to-farm-gate. Method: E-CO₂ model (Carbon Trust certified), GWP100, 54% kill-out factor. The EBLEX/AHDB figure reflects English beef farms and is treated here as representative of British beef herds for benchmarking.

• Context (recent UK split): AHDB 2025 Environmental Roadmap indicates dairy-bred beef ~22.05 kg CO₂e/kg dwt and suckler beef ~32.37 kg CO₂e/kg dwt at farm gate. Our benchmark uses the published sector average (23.43) for a single consistent reference.

Why carcass weight for beef?

Beef LCAs often report at carcass weight (deadweight) at farm gate to avoid product-mix bias from further processing. It’s the closest like-for-like to our per-kg ingredient basis.

Carcase weight is the weight of the dressed beef carcase after slaughter, with head, hide, feet, blood, and internal organs removed. Many UK studies report farm-gate footprints per kilogram of carcase weight to provide a consistent basis for comparing systems. In our comparison we use the published UK farm-gate footprint expressed per kg carcase weight, even though slaughter and dressing themselves are outside the farm-gate boundary.

Why not whole-product claims?

Finished product footprints include processing energy, packaging, distribution and use-phase. Those are held constant in our ingredient comparison to isolate the effect of protein choice. 

 

*What “cradle-to-gate” and “cradle-to-farm-gate” mean in this claim

• Insect ingredient (cradle-to-gate): covers everything from feedstock sourcing and pre-processing, insect rearing, processing into ProteinX® or PureeX®, ingredient packaging, on-site energy and waste, up to the Protix factory gate in the Netherlands. It excludes transport to our UK manufacturer, pet food production at our co-manufacturer, finished-product packaging, distribution, retail, and use.

• UK beef (cradle-to-farm-gate, British beef herds): covers on-farm emissions from British beef herds including enteric methane, manure management, fertiliser and feed production, and on-farm energy, up to the point animals leave the farm. For comparison purposes the figure is expressed per kilogram carcase weight, using a standard conversion from liveweight to carcase weight. It excludes slaughter and dressing, butchery, cold chain, distribution, retail, and cooking.

If you have any questions, please get in touch at sustainability@mygrubclub.com