Fly Food Service

How to order our fly food 

If you are in the University of Cambridge, you can order fly food from our facility using our Fly Lab Media Form. Instructions for using the form are below. 

If you are in the Cambridge area, but are not part of Cambridge University (and so cannot access our Fly Lab Media Form), we can usually arrange for you to email your orders directly to our fly kitchen.  Please contact Simon Collier (s.collier@gen.cam.ac.uk) to discuss this.

Fly Food prices and charging

We charge our food service users at the end of each quarter of the academic year and include any stock-keeping charges in the quarterly bill. The academic year runs from August to July. We request a grant code for payment from users in the Department of Genetics and a Purchase Order from other Cambridge University users and from users outside of the university.

Infrequent food service users may be able to pay for individual transactions rather than pay quarterly. Such payments are normally via Purchase Order. Please contact Simon Collier (s.collier@gen.cam.ac.uk) to discuss this.

Our Fly Food prices for University of Cambridge users are here (Raven password required).

If you do not work in the University of Cambridge, but wish to purchase our fly food, please contact Simon Collier (s.collier@gen.cam.ac.uk) for pricing.

Fly Food Collection/Delivery

Food service users in the Department of Genetics: Fly food in vials and bottles is delivered to the front cupboards in the facility's Fly Lab (115). Plates can be collected from the basement cold room (B6).

Food service users outside of the Department of Genetics: Fly food service users outside of the Genetics Department have two options:

  • Collection from Genetics reception: Fly food in vials, bottles and plates can be collected from the Department of Genetics reception. Reception is open for collection from 8.30am to 5.00pm on weekdays (Monday-Friday). Please request 'Delivery to Genetics Reception' on our Fly Lab Media Form. When you receive an email alerting you that that status of our order has changed to 'done', you should be able to collect your fly food from reception.
  • Van delivery: There is a weekly fly food van delivery service for Drosophila groups in the Cambridge area every Thursday. If you are interested in using this service please contact Simon Collier (s.collier@gen.cam.ac.uk) to discuss your requirements and our delivery options. To be sure of Thursday delivery, groups need to submit their orders by the end of Monday. They will need to request 'Van Delivery' on our Fly Lab Media Form.

Returning used glass fly vials and bottles for washing and re-use

Food service users in the Department of Genetics: Used fly vials can be left for collection in the red trolleys in the Fly Lab (115) or can be taken directly to the basement autoclave room (B18). Please place used vials in a tray on their sides, and do not fill the tray above the rim. 

Food service users outside of the Department of Genetics: Used glass vials and bottles can be returned to Genetics reception during weekedays between 8.30am and 5.00pm. Please place used vials in a tray on their sides, and do not fill the tray above the rim. Please return trays of used glass vials/bottles in a sealed bag to minimize the possibility of fly release.

How to order Fly Food (October 2025)

Fly food can be ordered using our Fly Lab Media Form. Here's how:

  1. Select your research group name from the first drop-down menu (required).
  2. Select the type of food you want (cornmeal, iberian etc.) from the 'Media' drop-down menu (required).
  3. Select the type of container you want (bottles, vials, plates) from the "Container' drop-down menu (required).
  4. Type the amount you want in the 'Quantity' box (required) - When ordering vials or bottles, specify the number of trays (this does not need to be a whole number). One tray holds ~150 vials or 20 bottles. When ordering plates, specify the number of plates.
  5. Add any additional information in the 'Comments' box (optional). This might include, for example, additional instructions for food preparation (e.g. 'no added yeast'), or use of a specific container not listed on this form. Please include this information in your request even if you have discussed these changes with us beforehand.
  6. Select your delivery preference from the ‘Deliver to’ drop-own menu (required). Please note: our weekly van delivery is only to specific locations and requires prior arrangement.
  7. Choose your preferred delivery date from the 'Delivery Date’ dropdown menu (required).  Only chose ‘Advanced delivery’ if you want to delay the arrival of your fly food. Our current food-making schedule: Cornmeal (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday), Iberian (Monday), Propionic (Wednesday). Orders need to be submitted by noon on the previous day. This schedule will change in weeks with Bank Holidays or Closure days.
  8. Submit your order by clicking the ‘Submit’ button. You should then see a screen that says ‘Thank you. Your response has been submitted!’
  9. You will need to submit separate orders for different food types or for food in different containers.
  10. You will automatically receive an email when your status of your order changes. When the status changes to ‘done’, you should then be able to collect your food. 

Types of fly food available

Please note: we can normally accommodate requests for alternate fly foods where a detailed recipe is supplied.

We regularly cook 3 types of fly food: Cornmeal, Propionic and Iberian.

Cornmeal food:

  • Cornmeal, yeast, glucose, agar, water, Nipagin
  • Our standard food suitable for most Drosophila stocks

Propionic food:

  • Malt extract, molasses, cornmeal, yeast, agar, soya powder, water, Propionic acid, Nipagin
  • A more nutritious food for difficult-to-grow stocks and some non-melanogaster species

Iberian food:

  • Glucose, wheat flour, agar, yeast, water, Propionic acid, Nipagin
  • A wheat-based recipe preferred by some groups

 

Other foods can be cooked to order including: 

Yeast Glucose food:

  • Yeast, glucose, agar, water, Nipagin
  • Highly nutritious food for growing fat larvae for larval preps.

Banana food

  • Banana, yeast, molasses, malt extra, agar, water, Nipagin
  • For culturing some non-melanogaster species including Drosophila pseudoobscura

Malt food:

  • Semolina, yeast, malt extra, agar, water, propionic acid, Nipagin
  • For some non-melanogaster species (including affinis, ambigua, americana, bocqueti, buzzati, erecta, flavomontana, guanche, immigrans, lacicola, lummei, montana, orena, persimilis, pseudoobscura, repleta)

Apple Juice Agar 1:

  • Apple juice concentrate, agar, glucose, water, Nipagin
  • For embryo collections

Apple Juice Agar 2:

  • Apple juice, agar, dried active yeast, glucose, water, Nipagin
  • For population cage collections

Food containers

Fly food in vials Tubes Bottles 3

Fly food in vials can be ordered by whole or part tray. One tray holds:

  • Approximately 150 large glass vials (glass vials can be returned after use to the Fly Facility to be washed and re-used)
  • Approximately 150 single-use plastic vials

Fly food in bottles

Fly food in bottles can be ordered by the tray or part tray. One tray holds:

  • 20 glass bottles (glass bottles can be returned after use to the Fly Facility to be washed and re-used)
  • 24 single-use 6oz plastic bottles
  • 7 glass Kilner jars (for cage work). Note: To order Kilner jars, select ‘bottles’ on the media website and specify ‘Kilner’ in the comment column.

Fly food on platesPlates 1

Fly food plates can be ordered by quantity (number of plates).

  • 50mm plates
  • 90mm plates
  • Chip plates' (for Cage Room collections). Note: To order Chip Plates, select ‘90mm plates’ on the media website and specify ‘Chip Plates’ in the comments column.