Technological Quality, Amino Acid and Fatty Acid Profile of Broiler Meat Enhanced by Dietary Inclusion of Black Soldier Fly Larvae

Abstract

We evaluated the effects of full-fat black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) on broiler carcass composition, cut yield, and breast meat quality. Broilers were fed for 42 days with up to 20% dietary inclusion of BSFL (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20%). On day 42, 120 broilers were slaughtered, and images were taken using computed tomography. Breasts, drumsticks, and thighs were collected for cut yield determination. The pH, color, lipid oxidation, cooking loss, shear force, amino acid profile, and fatty acid profile of the breast meat were assessed. There was no dietary effect on carcass composition or meat quality parameters except for fatty and amino acids compositions. When 20% BSFL was included in the diet, individual fatty and amino acids, such as lauric and myristic acids, aspartic acid, glutamine, and lysine, increased by 22.0-, 5.50-, 1.08-, 1.06-, and 1.06-fold, respectively (p < 0.05). Although total polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased, eicosapentaenoic fatty acids (EPA) increased by 78% in the 20% BSFL inclusion group. In conclusion, up to 20%, dietary full-fat BSFL did not affect key meat characteristics but positively increased the levels of the health-claimable omega-3 fatty acid EPA.

Do insects as feed ingredient affect meat quality?

“…Similarly, the poultry meat proximate composition also showed alternate results, and they do not seem related to the insect meal inclusion level. Differences in meat nutrients composition were mainly observed for more protein content [42,50], for lowered [45] or increased [43,51] essential amino acids, and for enrichment in minerals, like calcium [51], sulfur [49], and cupper [40]. In general, the sensory evaluation of poultry meat derived from animals fed diets supplemented with black soldier flies did not differ from that obtained from control diets [41,44,51].…”

“…Based on numerous studies (Table 1), the black soldier fly as meal or fat in poultry diets has no [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] or limited influence [41,42,[47][48][49][50] on physical meat quality (pH, colour, water holding capacity (WHC), shear force) of broiler's chicken, quail, barbary partridge, and muscovy duck. Similarly, the poultry meat proximate composition also showed alternate results, and they do not seem related to the insect meal inclusion level.…”

“…In general, the sensory evaluation of poultry meat derived from animals fed diets supplemented with black soldier flies did not differ from that obtained from control diets [41,44,51]. Instead, the black soldier fly inclusion as meal or fat had a major contribution in modifying the FA profile of the lipids in the poultry meat [40][41][42][43]45,47,[50][51][52][53][54].…”

“…Considering that the FA profile of the meat of monogastric animals is in line with the pattern of that of their diet, and that the black soldier fly (whatever its form) is rich in saturated fatty acids (SFA; approximately 70% of the total FAME, of which 43% is represented by the C12:0 [48] it follows that the proportion of SFA in meat increases as a function of the dietary inclusion level of the black soldier fly. In majority of the cases, this implies a worsening of the n-6/n-3 ratio [43], but either insect defatting or their food substrate, may not change [49] or improve [45] the omega-6/omega-3 ratio.…”

Edible insects: environmentally friendly sustainable future food source

“…Edible insects are a good source of proteins for the fish and poultry industries. De Souza Vilela et al ., (2021) found improvements in chicken protein quality when chicken feeds were supplemented with BSFL at a rate of 15%. The improvement included increasing aspartic acid from 68 to 73 mg g −1 , glutamine from 114 to 121 mg g −1 and lysine from 67 to 173 mg g −1 in chicken meat.…”