FreezeM’s flagship product, PauseM®, consists of freshly hatched, highly viable, and accurately quantified neonates transported globally with over 90% survival rates. PauseM® has been successfully integrated into industrial setups of varying scales, supporting the growth and operational flexibility of black soldier fly industry stakeholders. This article details the extension of PauseM® shelf life to 21 days, enhancing logistical adaptability and meeting the dynamic needs of the expanding market.
Head of R&D Preservation and Product Management
FreezeM
The black soldier fly (BSF) industry is undergoing rapid expansion, transitioning from vertically integrated models to specialised supply chain approaches. As a result, many producers seek to outsource breeding operations to avoid the complexities of in-house breeding. FreezeM specialises in BSF breeding and the supply of high-quality neonates in a suspended animation state. Previously, PauseM® units, with a 14-day shelf life, successfully facilitated scalability and consistency for industrial BSF production. Here, we present an extension of PauseM® shelf life to 21 days, offering increased logistical flexibility and cost efficiency. This innovation further enhances accessibility to high-quality breeding products, streamlining BSF farming operations worldwide.
INDUSTRY GROWTH AND EVOLUTION
The global demand for black soldier fly as a sustainable protein source has grown significantly, attracting interest from industries such as waste management, aquaculture, and pet food production. One of the primary challenges for new entrants is maintaining a stable and reliable breeding supply. Early industry pioneers relied on in-house breeding, which required significant capital expenditure (CAPEX), operational costs (OPEX), and specialised biological expertise. As the industry evolved, outsourcing breeding became a viable solution, with breeding products such as eggs, neonates, and five-day-old larvae now commercially available.
OVERCOMING LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES WITH PauseM®
Managing live organisms presents logistical challenges that can disrupt industrial planning and operations. FreezeM has addressed these challenges with a novel breeding solution—PauseM®—which induces a suspended animation state in freshly hatched neonates. This technology preserves neonates in a viable yet developmentally paused state, ensuring over 90% survival rates for 14 days. Each PauseM® unit contains homogeneous, high-fitness neonates, precisely quantified (typically 50,000 per unit, with customisable options from 15,000 to 75,000). The product is shipped from FreezeM’s German production facility and is designed for seamless storage and activation by end-users. These features are critical in maintaining consistency within industrial BSF production systems.
EXTENDING PauseM® SHELF LIFE TO 21 DAYS
PauseM® has been successfully implemented across a wide range of facilities, from small-scale growers to large industrial plants. The initial 14-day shelf life enabled global shipments; however, extending shelf life was the next logical step in product development. A 21-day shelf life significantly enhances logistical flexibility, allowing greater control over activation timing while reducing shipping costs by increasing batch shipment sizes. The key challenge in extending shelf life was to maintain high survival rates without altering the product’s fundamental composition, storage requirements, shipping stability, or user application protocols.
DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF PauseM® VERSION II
Early trials (PauseM® Version I) demonstrated that while neonate survival at 21 days was approximately 60% (with high variability), consistency and stability remained an issue (Figure 1). To address this, a series of controlled modifications were introduced, with test units containing 50,000 neonates incubated at 20°C and 70% relative humidity for 21 days. Upon activation, neonates were fed high-quality substrates and reared for eight days before being counted to assess survival rates.
Survival rates were compared across PauseM® Version I and three modified formulations (Figure 1). While all experimental variants demonstrated some improvement, only one consistently achieved survival rates exceeding 90%. Importantly, this improved setup maintained the same preparation, seeding, and activation protocols as the original product. Validation trials at multiple industrial facilities confirmed these findings.
ENHANCING SCALABILITY
Subsequently, PauseM® Version II was tested for its capacity to support increased neonate densities. Higher neonate densities per unit can enhance operational efficiencies, particularly for facilities utilising large rearing trays. PauseM® Version I maintained high survival rates for 75,000 neonates for only 10 days, with survival declining to approximately 80% at 14 days—a limitation for industrial-scale applications. In contrast, PauseM® Version II consistently achieved survival rates above 90% for 75,000 neonates over the full 21-day period (Figure 2). Industrial users further validated these findings in real-world settings.
CONCLUSION
As the BSF industry expands, ensuring consistency and predictability is essential for sustained production and market integration. Biological systems inherently introduce variability, making it challenging to maintain stable outputs. However, industrial consistency is crucial to securing broader adoption of BSF-derived products, particularly within aquaculture and pet food sectors.
The extension of PauseM® shelf life and its increased capacity for higher neonate densities address these challenges, meeting the evolving demands of the market. A longer shelf life enhances risk mitigation, improves inventory management, and alleviates supply chain disruptions. Reliable breeding solutions enable producers to focus their resources on optimising rearing and processing efficiencies rather than navigating unpredictable biological constraints.
FreezeM remains committed to bridging the gap between biology and engineering, fostering a resilient and scalable BSF industry.
About Dr. Adi Abada
Dr. Adi Abada is Head of R&D Preservation and Product Manager at FreezeM, an agrotech startup specializing in Black Soldier Fly (BSF) breeding. Abada develops advanced preservation technologies for BSF breeding products and implements these innovations at insect farming operations of various scales. Adi Abada holds an MSc and PhD in Biomolecular Sciences from the Weizmann Institute of Science, researching trafficking factors in autophagy and algal-bacterial interactions. Her work is published in leading scientific journals, and she has presented at international conferences. She received the Dean of Faculty Fellowship and Clore Scholarship in 2018.
