Increasing food sustainability by utilization of biowaste to grow mealworms and their nutrient profile as human food
Yellow mealworm is explored globally as sustainable food, creating a need to optimize its nutritional composition. This study investigated effects of supplementing mealworm feed with biowaste, apple pomace. Growth performance including survival/pupation rates, nutrient composition of larvae/pupae, a...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | Future Foods |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666833525000218 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832540388626268160 |
|---|---|
| author | Nariman Ktil Ida Holásková Yong-Lak Park Cangliang Shen Kristen E. Matak Jacek Jaczynski |
| author_facet | Nariman Ktil Ida Holásková Yong-Lak Park Cangliang Shen Kristen E. Matak Jacek Jaczynski |
| author_sort | Nariman Ktil |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Yellow mealworm is explored globally as sustainable food, creating a need to optimize its nutritional composition. This study investigated effects of supplementing mealworm feed with biowaste, apple pomace. Growth performance including survival/pupation rates, nutrient composition of larvae/pupae, and total antioxidant capacity of oil extracted from mealworms were examined. Apple pomace-supplemented diet (AD) did not (P ≥ 0.05) affect growth performance compared to control diet (CD). Larvae survival rates were higher (P < 0.05) for CD than AD, although realistically negligible. Pupation rate was higher (P < 0.05) for CD. Importantly, survival rates were similar (P ≥ 0.05) for the CD and AD. Feeding resulted in nutrient accumulation. Protein and fat contents increased (P < 0.05) to ≈40 g/100 g for each nutrient. Protein was generally higher in larvae than pupae and fat typically increased with AD. Mealworms, particularly larvae are dense source of animal protein and fat for isolation and extraction to develop human food. Oils extracted from pupae (hexane and chloroform:methanol generally) yielded higher antioxidant capacity than larvae. Antioxidants did not (P ≥ 0.05) have statistical significance likely because oils did not contain water-soluble antioxidants. Apple pomace showed improvement of mealworm nutritional profile and could be utilized in farming a sustainable and alternative food source. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-53dffe4c463b4eaeb2969b2859e059ff |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2666-8335 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Future Foods |
| spelling | doaj-art-53dffe4c463b4eaeb2969b2859e059ff2025-02-05T04:32:45ZengElsevierFuture Foods2666-83352025-06-0111100558Increasing food sustainability by utilization of biowaste to grow mealworms and their nutrient profile as human foodNariman Ktil0Ida Holásková1Yong-Lak Park2Cangliang Shen3Kristen E. Matak4Jacek Jaczynski5West Virginia University, School of Agriculture and Food Systems, P.O. Box 6108, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6108, USAWest Virginia University, School of Agriculture and Food Systems, P.O. Box 6108, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6108, USAWest Virginia University, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, P.O. Box 6108, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6108, USAWest Virginia University, School of Agriculture and Food Systems, P.O. Box 6108, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6108, USAWest Virginia University, School of Agriculture and Food Systems, P.O. Box 6108, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6108, USA; Corresponding authors.West Virginia University, School of Agriculture and Food Systems, P.O. Box 6108, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6108, USA; Corresponding authors.Yellow mealworm is explored globally as sustainable food, creating a need to optimize its nutritional composition. This study investigated effects of supplementing mealworm feed with biowaste, apple pomace. Growth performance including survival/pupation rates, nutrient composition of larvae/pupae, and total antioxidant capacity of oil extracted from mealworms were examined. Apple pomace-supplemented diet (AD) did not (P ≥ 0.05) affect growth performance compared to control diet (CD). Larvae survival rates were higher (P < 0.05) for CD than AD, although realistically negligible. Pupation rate was higher (P < 0.05) for CD. Importantly, survival rates were similar (P ≥ 0.05) for the CD and AD. Feeding resulted in nutrient accumulation. Protein and fat contents increased (P < 0.05) to ≈40 g/100 g for each nutrient. Protein was generally higher in larvae than pupae and fat typically increased with AD. Mealworms, particularly larvae are dense source of animal protein and fat for isolation and extraction to develop human food. Oils extracted from pupae (hexane and chloroform:methanol generally) yielded higher antioxidant capacity than larvae. Antioxidants did not (P ≥ 0.05) have statistical significance likely because oils did not contain water-soluble antioxidants. Apple pomace showed improvement of mealworm nutritional profile and could be utilized in farming a sustainable and alternative food source.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666833525000218Insect growth performanceMealwormInsect feed supplementationInsect nutrient compositionEntomophagyInsects for human food |
| spellingShingle | Nariman Ktil Ida Holásková Yong-Lak Park Cangliang Shen Kristen E. Matak Jacek Jaczynski Increasing food sustainability by utilization of biowaste to grow mealworms and their nutrient profile as human food Future Foods Insect growth performance Mealworm Insect feed supplementation Insect nutrient composition Entomophagy Insects for human food |
| title | Increasing food sustainability by utilization of biowaste to grow mealworms and their nutrient profile as human food |
| title_full | Increasing food sustainability by utilization of biowaste to grow mealworms and their nutrient profile as human food |
| title_fullStr | Increasing food sustainability by utilization of biowaste to grow mealworms and their nutrient profile as human food |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increasing food sustainability by utilization of biowaste to grow mealworms and their nutrient profile as human food |
| title_short | Increasing food sustainability by utilization of biowaste to grow mealworms and their nutrient profile as human food |
| title_sort | increasing food sustainability by utilization of biowaste to grow mealworms and their nutrient profile as human food |
| topic | Insect growth performance Mealworm Insect feed supplementation Insect nutrient composition Entomophagy Insects for human food |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666833525000218 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT narimanktil increasingfoodsustainabilitybyutilizationofbiowastetogrowmealwormsandtheirnutrientprofileashumanfood AT idaholaskova increasingfoodsustainabilitybyutilizationofbiowastetogrowmealwormsandtheirnutrientprofileashumanfood AT yonglakpark increasingfoodsustainabilitybyutilizationofbiowastetogrowmealwormsandtheirnutrientprofileashumanfood AT cangliangshen increasingfoodsustainabilitybyutilizationofbiowastetogrowmealwormsandtheirnutrientprofileashumanfood AT kristenematak increasingfoodsustainabilitybyutilizationofbiowastetogrowmealwormsandtheirnutrientprofileashumanfood AT jacekjaczynski increasingfoodsustainabilitybyutilizationofbiowastetogrowmealwormsandtheirnutrientprofileashumanfood |