The traditional consumption of edible insects is common in one third of the world's population, mostly in Latin America, Africa and Asia. There are over one thousand identified species of insects eaten in some stage of their life cycle; and they play important roles in ensuring food security. The most common way to collect insects are from the wild, which is seasonal with limited availability and has an increasing demand resulting in a disruption to the ecosystem. There is a growing interest shown in rearing insects for commercial purposes, and an industrial scale production will be required to ensure steady supplies. Industrial production will need to take into account the living environment of insects, the nutritional composition of their feed and the overall efficiency of the production system. We provide a short overview on the consumption of and rearing insects in Africa, Asia and Europe. For Africa, a snapshot is given for Nigeria, Ghana, Central African Republic, Kenya and Uganda, while the following countries are reported for Asia: China, Japan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Thailand and Vietnam. In addition, a list of insect species with the highest potential for food and feed in the European Union is provided with some reference to The Netherlands and Finland. The review concludes that there is need to better understand the rearing and farming procedures that will yield high quality edible insects in Africa, Asia and Europe.

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Two flavoured extruded products were developed by co-extruding yam grits (750 µm) obtained from white yam (Dioscorea rotundata) and bambara groundnut flour (250 µm) in 160:40 respectively obtained from white bambara groundnut with added flavouring agents of salt (1% -3%) and sugar (4% -6%) in the feed blends at screw speed of 70 rpm, 17.5%, feed moisture and at the barrel temperature of 145˚C. The extruded products were packaged in low density polyethylene bag (0.02 µm gauge size) and stored at room temperature (28˚C ± 2˚C) and at refrigeration temperature (9˚C ± 2˚C) for a period of twenty weeks. The microbiological changes in the extruded products as determined by the total plate under both storage conditions showed that maximum total plate counts were 0.5 × 10 4 and 5.4 × 10 4 cfu/g at 9˚C ± 2˚C and 28˚C ± 2˚C respectively. Nutritional evaluation studies of extrudates were comparable (p ≥ 0.05) with standard casein diet with minimum crude protein content of 13.51% providing 1707.2 KJ energy per 100g of diet and supported weight gain and growth of laboratory animals.

The present study develop various microorganisms for starter culture purpose from fermented sweet potato and used the developed starters in the fermentation of sweet potato and products for consistent quality product with improved hygiene. Sweet potato was purchased from different markets and microorganisms were isolated and developed as starters. Comparative studies on different starters for the fermentation of sweet potato for 48 h were investigated. The microbial count of the starter cultures increased as fermentation period increased from 6.06 to 9.14 cfu/ml, the pH reduced from 5.49 to 3.28 while the total titrable acid increased from 0.001 to 0.04. Amongst the various starters used, the use of the mixed cultures (combination of lactic acid bacteria L201 and yeast 601A) as starter cultures in the fermentation of sweet potato for 48 h had the best attributes in terms of texture, flavour, rate of fermentation and consistency when prepared as meal (bolus). The mineral analysis showed that most of the mineral content in the sample increased after fermentation for calcium (Ca) 2043.9 to 2177.5 ppm and Mn 6.29 to 26.32 ppm. The functional properties of the fermented sweet potato flour produced showed moisture content of 10.42%, water absorption capacity of 1.77 g/g and swelling capacity of 86.67%.

Phytonutrients such as phenolics play important roles in health and well-being. The main phenolic compounds include phenolic acid, tannins, stilbenes, lignans and flavonoids. Phenolic compounds in plants distributed in the tissues, cell walls and subcellular compartments have biological activities, including antioxidant, chemopreventive, neuroprotective, cardioprotective and immunomodulatory properties. Citrus fruits, herbs and cereals are a few examples of flavonoid sources with biological functions. This article reviews recent findings in some common groups of phenolics and their role beneficial to human effects. Regular consumption of various plant sources which possess phenolic acids, tannins, stilbenes, lignans and flavonoids can reduce oxidative stress, cancer, cardiovascular disease and slow the progression of memory loss.

This study shows an improvement in testicular antioxidant activities and sperm qualities by single and double doses of the formulation, suggesting its protective potential against testicular toxicity in diabetic rats.