Selected Non-Protein Nitrogen Compounds in Insects for Food and Feed Purposes

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41210%2F23%3A96178" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41210/23:96178 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://isofood2023.si/uploads/common/1682078576_Book_of_Abstracts.pdf" target="_blank" >https://isofood2023.si/uploads/common/1682078576_Book_of_Abstracts.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Selected Non-Protein Nitrogen Compounds in Insects for Food and Feed Purposes

Original language description

Insects are considered a nutritionally valuable source of alternative proteins. The protein content in the literature is mainly based on nitrogen content using the nitrogen-to-protein conversion factor of 6.25 generally used for proteins. Besides true protein, there is a significant proportion (11-26%) of non-protein nitrogen (NPN) compounds in insects which should be considered. These NPN compounds are for example, chitin, nucleic acids, phospholipids, and excretion products (e.g., ammonia) in the intestinal tract. Our studies in the field of NPN substances were focussed on chitin, purines (adenine, guanine, xanthine, and hypoxanthine) and their metabolite (uric acid), and taurine in various insect species intended for food and feed purposes. Purines and uric acid content were determined by RP-HPLC with UV detection, the chitin present in the insect samples was converted to glucosamine and determined by spectrophotometric method, taurine was determined by an electrophoretic method. The chitin content in the samples ranged from 1.64 to 3.03 g/100g fresh weight; larvae had the lowest values as compared to other developmental stages. Compared to meat, edible insects contained equivalent or higher amounts of total purine (3.23 13.22 g/kg edible insect dry matter vs. 3.61 5.53 g/kg meat dry matter). The uric acid content was significantly affected by the developmental stage and species. Amongst the tested samples, Gryllus assimilis contained the highest levels of taurine (121.0 ±10.2 mg/100 g fresh weight). On the contrary, the lowest taurine level was detected in Schistocerca gregaria (5.4 ±0.6 mg/100 g fresh weight). As non-protein nitrogen compounds account for a relatively high percentage of the total nitrogen in insects, the amount of nitrogen present from NPC compounds should be considered when calculating the true protein content from the total amount of nitrogen substances

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

21101 - Food and beverages

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů