Assessment and authentication of edible insects available at the market

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60461373%3A22330%2F24%3A43930698" target="_blank" >RIV/60461373:22330/24:43930698 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

—

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

—

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Assessment and authentication of edible insects available at the market

Original language description

The European market with edible insects and insect-based products is continuously growing, until now, four species have been authorised as a novel food: Tenebrio molitor, Acheta domesticus, Locusta migratoria and Alphitobius diaperinus (Regulation (EU) 2015/2283). Alike in case of other high nutritional value commodities, fraudulent practices cannot be avoided, therefore effective tools are needed for label control and authentication. The research mainly focused on untargeted metabolomic analysis and targeted screening of polar metabolites in available insect samples. In total, extracts (aqueous ethanol 1:1, v/v) prepared from 36 authentic insect samples (9 species, including authorized species in the EU, from nine different Czech breeders) and 67 samples of different commercial edible insect-based products were subjected to analysis performed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS). Multivariate analysis (PCA, PLS-DA) revealed differences in metabolome of tested insect species. The insect-based products clustered with authentic insect samples in PCA and PLS-DA score plots. In total, 31 potential markers of 9 insect species were identified. For example, leucopterin, a compound present in the insect wings, as a marker of adult insects (e.g. Locusta migratoria and Schistocerca gregaria). The identified markers were incorporated into the in-house metabolomic marker database, which at present contains 51 potential markers, which their applicability was successfully verified on two sets of commercial samples. The results of this study have identified the challenges for follow-up entometabolomics research, especially for the authentication of edible insects and products thereof.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

21101 - Food and beverages

Project

<a href="/en/project/QK23020101" target="_blank" >QK23020101: The comprehensive laboratory strategy for identification of insect species intended for human consumption and the production of processed animal protein, authentication of insect-based foods.</a><br>

Continuities

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

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

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