Inacio, Ana Carolina and Vågsholm, Ivar and Jansson, Anna and Vaga, Merko and Boqvist, Sofia and Fraqueza, M.J.
(2021).
Impact of starvation on fat content and microbial load in edible crickets (Acheta domesticus).
Journal of insects as food and feed. 7
, 1143-1147
[Research article]
![]() |
PDF
314kB |
Abstract
Interest in insects as food is increasing worldwide, particularly in industrialised countries. Insect-based ingredients are considered novel foods in Europe and there are unresolved concerns regarding food safety. Microbial counts in insects can be high, posing potential health risks to consumers and possibly causing rapid deterioration by spoilage microorganisms. Gut emptying by starvation prior to killing could reduce the microbial load in the insect gut but could also lead to fat loss and lower energy content, reducing the profitability of production. This study evaluated the microbial load (total aerobic counts (TAC), Enterobacteriaceae) in house crickets (Acheta domesticus) starved for 0 h (control), 24 h, and 48 h, and the corresponding fat losses. The 24 h starvation group showed significantly lower (P=0.004) Enterobacteriaceae counts of one log cfu/g, but not TAC, (compared to the control group). TAC was significantly increased (P=0.002), by almost one log cfu/g in the 48 h starvation group compared with the control. Sex of the insects had no significant effect on microbial numbers (P=0.72 and P=0.46 for TAC and Enterobacteriaceae, respectively). Starvation for 24 h decreased fat content in crickets (P=0.02), indicating potential production losses. This shows that starvation is not an effective method for reducing microbial loads in edible crickets.
Authors/Creators: | Inacio, Ana Carolina and Vågsholm, Ivar and Jansson, Anna and Vaga, Merko and Boqvist, Sofia and Fraqueza, M.J. | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Title: | Impact of starvation on fat content and microbial load in edible crickets (Acheta domesticus) | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Journal of insects as food and feed | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2021 | ||||||
Volume: | 7 | ||||||
Page range: | 1143-1147 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 5 | ||||||
Publisher: | WAGENINGEN ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS | ||||||
ISSN: | 2352-4588 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 4 Agricultural Sciences > 401 Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries > Food Science | ||||||
Keywords: | insects as food, food safety, starvation, plate count, lipid content | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-112213 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-112213 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
| ||||||
ID Code: | 26215 | ||||||
Faculty: | VH - Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science | ||||||
Department: | (VH) > Department of Biomedical Science and Veterinary Public Health (VH) > Dept. of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 26 Nov 2021 08:25 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 26 Nov 2021 08:31 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page