RT Journal Article
T1 Characterization of all life stages of Tenebrio molitor: Envisioning innovative applications for this edible insect
A1 Muñoz Seijas, Nuno
A1 dos Santos Fernandes, Helena Raquel
A1 López Periago, José Eugenio
A1 Outeiriño Rodríguez, David
A1 Morán Aguilar, María Guadalupe
A1 Domínguez González, José Manuel
A1 Salgado Seara, José Manuel
K1 2302 Bioquímica
K1 2401 Biología Animal (Zoología)
K1 2413 Biología de Insectos (Entomología)
AB The human food security is unavoidably dependent on exploring novel nutritional sources, such as edible insects.However, insects farming needs to improve their rearing practices, such as extracting value from all growingstages, from larvae until adults. In this work, a full characterization of larvae, pupae and adults of Tenebrio molitorwas carried out. Higher protein and ash contents were observed in pupae, while higher lipids (mainly polyunsaturated fatty acids, PUFA) were observed in larvae, decreasing until reaching the adult stage. Chitin contentwas 6-fold higher in adults than larvae and pupae. Also, it was possible to quantify the chitin resorting tocomputed 3D tomography, achieving similar values as the traditional and chemically based method. Lowermineral content was found in larvae, while high iron, zinc and copper levels were found in beetles. Phenoliccompounds content was similar among larvae, pupae and beetles. FTIR analysis was a valuable, easy, and fastmethod to assess the nutritional composition of T. molitor, detecting vibrations characteristic of protein, lipidsand chitin fractions. This study provides a full characterization of all life stages of T. molitor, highlighting thepossible valorisation chains that can be adopted to obtain highly nutritive and/or functional compounds
PB Future Foods
SN 26668335
YR 2024
FD 2024-12
LK http://hdl.handle.net/11093/7187
UL http://hdl.handle.net/11093/7187
LA eng
NO Future Foods, 10, 100404 (2024)
NO Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. EQC2018—004965-P
DS Investigo
RD 15-mar-2025