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Knowledge Hub

Black soldier fly protein is well supported as a safe and highly digestible food for healthy adult dogs. It has not been clinically proven as a treatment for food allergy. This page outlines the research that supports the benefits of insect protein for dogs whilst also highlighting gaps where more evidence is needed.

By Alessandro Di Trapani Reviewed by Dr Anna Cherry BSc (Hons) BVSc Cert CFVHNut MRCVS Published Updated

Why we built this page

Most dog food marketing tells you what a food does. Very little of it tells you how anyone knows.

We sell insect-protein dog food, so we have an obvious interest in the evidence looking good. That is exactly why this page is written the way it is: every claim names the study behind it, the number of dogs in it, and how confident that makes us. Where the evidence does not exist, we say so rather than filling the gap with adjectives.

Those are the rows where more data and research is needed, highlighting the importance of the other rows.

Every page in this hub is reviewed by Dr Anna Cherry, our Head Vet, before it is published, and reviewed again when the evidence changes.

What is insect protein dog food?

Insect-protein dog food uses larvae as the animal protein instead of chicken, beef, lamb or fish. Ours uses black soldier fly larvae, Hermetia illucens, which are farmed in controlled conditions and dried into a meal or frozen fresh. Depending on the product, Grub Club uses dry, fresh, or a combination of dry and fresh insect ingredients.

It matters that "insect protein" is not one uniform ingredient. The nutritional profile changes with the species, the life stage, what the larvae were reared on, and whether the meal is whole or defatted. Most of the research below used black soldier fly specifically. Findings from mealworm or cricket do not automatically transfer, and we have not borrowed any.

In our complete foods, black soldier fly larvae are the only animal protein. There is no chicken, beef, lamb, fish or dairy in them at all.

What does the evidence actually show?

Evidence summary
Question Best direct evidence What it shows Confidence
Will dogs eat it?

20 adult dogs, five test diets over 48 hours (Freel et al., 2021)



 All tested diets were accepted Moderate
Is it tolerated?

56 adult dogs over 28 days, up to 20% inclusion of BSFL (Freel et al., 2021)

 Measured haematology and blood biochemistry, weight and stool scores stayed within normal limits Moderate to high
Is it digestible?

56-dog, 28-day trial (Freel et al., 2021), plus a six-dog crossover against poultry meal (Abd El-Wahab et al., 2021)

 Protein digestibility was 87.9–89.6%, fat digestibility was 96.0–96.7%; higher than poultry meal in the crossover Moderate to high
Does it improve stool quality?

Six-dog crossover against poultry meal (Abd El-Wahab et al., 2021)

 Faecal consistency closer to optimum of 2 (2.25 vs 2.71 on a five-point scale); faecal water content higher Mixed
Does it help skin?

8 beagles, 50-day crossover against poultry by-product meal (Silva Carvalho et al., 2024)



 Transepidermal water loss significantly reduced; hydration higher. Healthy dogs only; industry-funded Moderate
Is it proven hypoallergenic?

One small, uncontrolled four-week trial in 8 dogs with diagnosed food reactions (Srifawattana et al., 2025); no controlled trial exists

 No. It is novel for most dogs, which is not the same as non-allergenic. One of the eight dogs was withdrawn after worsening Evidence gap
Does it change the gut microbiome for the better?

20 beagles, 60 days (Jian et al., 2022)

 Not demonstrated. At 20% inclusion of BSFL meal, the authors report reduced digestibility and advise caution Evidence gap
Does it support joints?

In-vitro cell tests only (Mouithys-Mickalad et al., 2021); no feeding trial, and no cartilage or joint cells were tested

 Not established in dogs. We add chondroitin, MSM and plant-based glucosamine rather than relying on the protein Evidence gap
Does it support cognition in older dogs?

A literature review with no primary dog data (Kotob et al., 2022)

 Not established. We make no cognition claim Evidence gap

Research to date supports black soldier fly protein as a safe and digestible ingredient for healthy adult dogs. It has not been clinically proven as a treatment for food allergy.

How we judge the evidence

Not all studies carry the same weight, and we grade them the same way a vet would.

A trial in dogs beats a laboratory test. A test-tube result tells you a mechanism is possible; it does not tell you what happens inside a living animal. Several claims made across this category rest entirely on cell-culture work, and we have labelled ours where that is the case.

A controlled trial beats an uncontrolled one. If every dog gets the same diet and nothing is compared, you cannot separate the food from time, season, or the owner's attention.

Who paid matters. Three of the papers we cite include authors employed by an insect-protein producer. That does not make them wrong — they are peer-reviewed in respectable journals — but it is the kind of thing you should be told rather than discover.

Numbers beat adjectives. "Highly digestible" means nothing on its own. Protein digestibility of 87.9% to 89.6% in 56 dogs over 28 days is a citable, reliable figure.

Where to go next

Where Grub Club fits

Grub Club's complete foods use black soldier fly larvae as the only animal protein. They are not prescription diets and they have not been clinically tested as a treatment for food allergy, chronic enteropathy or itchy skin.

What we will claim is narrower and better evidenced: a complete novel-protein diet, backed by direct canine research on safety, acceptance and digestibility, made in the UK. If your dog is under veterinary care for a skin or gut condition, talk to your vet before changing anything.


Where our packaging says “hypoallergenic”, we mean the recipe leaves out the ingredients dogs most commonly react to. Here’s exactly what we mean by that.

Browse the range · Book a free vet consultation

References

Trials in dogs

  1. Kröger, S., Heide, C. and Zentek, J. (2020). Evaluation of an extruded diet for adult dogs containing larvae meal from the Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens). Animal Feed Science and Technology, 270, 114699. doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2020.114699
  2. Abd El-Wahab, A., Meyer, L., Kölln, M., Chuppava, B., Wilke, V., Visscher, C. and Kamphues, J. (2021). Insect larvae meal (Hermetia illucens) as a sustainable protein source of canine food and its impacts on nutrient digestibility and fecal quality. Animals, 11(9), 2525. doi.org/10.3390/ani11092525
  3. Freel, T.A., McComb, A. and Koutsos, E.A. (2021). Digestibility and safety of dry black soldier fly larvae meal and black soldier fly larvae oil in dogs. Journal of Animal Science, 99(3), skab047. doi.org/10.1093/jas/skab047
  4. Jian, S., Zhang, L., Ding, N., Yang, K., Xin, Z., Hu, M., Zhou, Z., Zhao, Z., Deng, B. and Deng, J. (2022). Effects of black soldier fly larvae as protein or fat sources on apparent nutrient digestibility, fecal microbiota, and metabolic profiles in beagle dogs. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, 1044986. doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1044986
  5. Silva Carvalho, R., Nóbrega Cardoso, R.K., Teixeira Amorim dos Santos, L.A., Sales dos Santos, M.X., Santos Neto, E.L., Zamora Restán, W.A., Savinov, A., Paul, A. and Loureiro, B.A. (2024). Effect of feeding black soldier fly larvae meal based diet on canine skin barrier function, organic antioxidant defence and blood biochemistry. Archives of Animal Nutrition, 78(2), 159-176. doi.org/10.1080/1745039X.2024.2375463Aman Paul, an employee of insect-protein producer Protix, is an author on this paper.
  6. Srifawattana, N., Phimolsiripol, Y., Boonchuay, P., Na-Lampang, K., Piboon, P., Umsumarng, S. and Nganvongpanit, K. (2025). Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae as a protein substitute in adverse food reactions for canine dermatitis: preliminary results among patients. Veterinary Sciences, 12(1), 68. doi.org/10.3390/vetsci12010068

Reviews and laboratory studies

  1. Mueller, R.S., Olivry, T. and Prélaud, P. (2016). Critically appraised topic on adverse food reactions of companion animals (2): common food allergen sources in dogs and cats. BMC Veterinary Research, 12(1), 9. doi.org/10.1186/s12917-016-0633-8
  2. Mouithys-Mickalad, A.A., Martin Tome, N., Boogaard, T., Chakraborty, A., Serteyn, D.A., Aarts, K. and Paul, A. (2021). Unlocking the real potential of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae protein derivatives in pet diets. Molecules, 26(14), 4216. doi.org/10.3390/molecules26144216
  3. Borrelli, L., Varriale, L., Dipineto, L., Pace, A., Menna, L.F. and Fioretti, A. (2021). Insect-derived lauric acid as promising alternative strategy to antibiotics in the antimicrobial resistance scenario. Frontiers in microbiology, 12, 620798. doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.620798
  4. Kotob, G., Sluczanowski, N., Siddiqui, S.A., Martin Tome, N., Dalim, M., van der Raad, P., Aarts, K. and Paul, A. (2022). Potential application of black soldier fly fats in canine and feline diet formulations: a review of literature. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, 25(4), 101994. doi.org/10.1016/j.aspen.2022.101994Aman Paul, an employee of insect-protein producer Protix, is an author on this paper.

This page was last reviewed by Dr Anna Cherry on 25 October 2026.