Obtaining fatty acids from insect larvae

A process of obtaining an extract of fly larvae and pupae rich in saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, said process comprising the steps of:

• breeding flies, on a substrate selected from the group consisting of manure, organic residue, biotreatment or bioconversion of urban runoff, wheat bran, decomposing vegetable scraps and mixtures thereof at a temperature of between 10 and 40° C., permitting growth to reach larval development;
• collecting the developed larvae and pupae in fly breeding,
• dehydrating the collected larvae and pupae in an electric heating system with ventilation or in a dehydration system based on the flow of hot air,
• grinding the dehydrated material in a grinder,
• extracting the ground, dehydrated material from the previous step with a Soxhlet system using pure organic solvents, hexane, or a mixture of hexane:dichloromethane 1:1 or 1:2 or 3:1 in a ratio of 50 g of ground material per 250 mL of extractant blend as a solvent,
• repeating the extracting step for 8 to 10 extraction cycles,
• separating the ground material,
• evaporating the extractant residue,
• recovering through distillation,
• distilling the extractant containing the extracted oil to separate it from the oil,
• obtaining the pure oil free of extractant,
• allowing it to cool to room temperature for a period of 8 to 16 hours,
• optionally adding an antioxidant, and
• storing the product,
• wherein,
• the larvae and pupae developed in the breeding of flies are selected from mature larvae and recently developed pupae and
• said extract is an extract of mature larvae and recently developed pupae.