The house crickets, Acheta domesticus, are sustainable and nutritious future sources of food, due to their nutritional benefits, particular high protein content and potential in solving global malnutrition. Different diets, particularly protein content, can influence the growth and nutritional value of crickets. The aim of this present study was to evaluate the effects of commercial diets and other formulated diets on the nutritional composition and growth parameters of the house crickets, being a major challenge to cricket’s farmers in Thailand. Feed conversion ratio were 1.50, 1.50, and 1.51 for fed crickets on a blend of 22% protein and dry pulp pumpkin powder, fed 22% protein plus fresh pumpkin pulp, and fed 22% protein alone, indicated that these groups are high feed convertors and represented the quality of these diets compared to 1.73 and 1.81 for fed crickets on a blend of 22% and 16% protein, and those fed on 16% protein alone. Fed crickets on 22% protein had the highest amount of protein (76%), the lowest (48%) in those fed on 22% protein and fresh pumpkin pulp inclusion. The group on 22% protein diet also had the highest amount of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and sodium. Fed 22% protein and either dry pulp pumpkin powder or fresh pumpkin pulp condition have shown improvement in vitamin B content. Crickets can effectively be produced on 22% protein diet to improve yield output and several minerals such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and sodium. In contrast, the supplementation of 22% protein diet with pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) will improve vitamin B content.
This research examined the effects of microwave and hot air oven drying on the nutritional, microbiological load, and color parameters of crickets’ powder. Both drying methods resulted in a slight variation in proximate composition. Microwave drying was considered the most suitable method for producing crickets’ powder because of the high levels of mineral elements, improvement in color parameters, and low levels of microbiological loads in microwave crickets’ powder compared to an oven. It also improved the vitamin B2 content as evidenced by a significantly higher amount (4.84 ± 0.01 mg/100 g dry basis) in microwave crickets’ powder compared to the oven (3.83 ± 0.01 mg/100 g dry basis). However, the level (<1.00 ± 0.00 cfu/g) of Staphylococcus aureus in all samples was lower than the accepted risk threshold. The findings highlighted the inherent vitamin B2, minerals, microbiological load, and color improvements of microwave drying technique. Practical applications Nutritional value, microbiological load, and sensory parameters of microwave and oven‐dried crickets’ powder were assessed to determine the practical application of both drying techniques in addressing the diversity of food standards and food safety policies, and provide scientific evidence for the development, and implementation of good manufacturing practices for whole‐dried crickets and crickets’ powder. The results of this present study clearly demonstrated that the microwave drying technique can be used effectively to improve the nutritional benefits, microbiological load, and increased acceptance of cricket's entomophagy compared to oven. Moreover, because of high dietary factors in crickets’ powder, the supplementation of food products with crickets’ powder can contribute to a reduction in malnutrition rates. Further, population vitamin B2, B3, B12, and several mineral deficits can easily be tackled with crickets’ powder and whole‐dried cricket's entomophagy.
The COVID-19 pandemic, global climate change, and a fast-growing human population have been reported to be leading millions into food insecurity. According to an FAO report, in 2020 over 811 million people were undernourished with 418 million in Asia, 282 million in Africa and 60 million in Latin America and the Caribbean. The world is off-track in ending hunger and improving nutrition, targets set by the United Nations (UN), to be achieved by 2030. The promotion of sustainable food sources such as entomophagy can help to deliver sustainable nutrition to many populations to reach the aforementioned UN targets. This narrative review explores the existing evidence around the use of edible insects to address food insecurity and malnutrition, including health, social and environmental benefits. For example, the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) provides on the order of three times as much energy, protein, and iron as an equal amount of beef or chicken and, unlike them, is an excellent source of calcium. An effective decontamination technique (to address safety issues such as allergens and pathogens) is required to produce edible insect powder. Insect powder can be used to effectively fortify conventional food products with iron, zinc, calcium and dietary fibre, which are often difficult to obtain in adequate amounts in many common dietary regimes, especially in low-income circumstances. In communities where the consumption of insects is already culturally accepted, promotion of their consumption could also help address chronic diseases related to poor diets such as type 2 diabetes. In addition to their high nutrient content, many edible insects provide anti-inflammatory factors. Supporting the harvesting and even rearing of edible insects could generate increased income from selling them in local markets.
Nutritional, sensory, texture, and microbiological load analyses were made of cookies consisting of a partial replacement of wheat flour with plantain (Musa paradisiaca) or cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) flour. There were slight differences in the amounts of protein, fat, and carbohydrate. Accordingly, the nutritional values per 100 g of the cookies correspond to 10-14% protein and 19-21% energy of the recommended daily allowance. In contrast, cookies containing either cocoyam or plantain flour have 20% and 30% more fiber, respectively, compared to cookies containing wheat flour alone. Similarly, plantain and cocoyam cookies’ iron and zinc contents were, respectively, 1-16% and 2-9% more than ( p < 0.05 ) the control. The levels of aerobic plate count in the cookies were lower than recommended thresholds for such food products. Those cookies containing 20% and 40% of either plantain or cocoyam flour had comparable sensory, texture, and color quality compared to the control. The effect of intake of plantain and cocoyam cookies is likely to eliminate population mineral deficiencies, particularly iron, and zinc. These results underline the potential of enabling food security crops such as plantain and cocoyam in sustaining cookies production, utilization, nutritional value, and the role of such crops in addressing food and nutrition insecurity.
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