Comparison of Proximate and Amino Acid Composition between Farmed and Wild Land Snails (Cornu aspersum Müller, 1774)

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe proximate and amino acid compositions of the visceral mass and pedal mass of wild and farmed land snail Cornu aspersum were compared. The lipid in all body parts of farmed snail was significantly higher than all body parts of wild snail. The ash content of wild snail pedal mass was higher than all body parts of farmed snails. The dominant amino acid was glutamic acid (Glu), while the highest values of essential amino acids were leucine (Leu) and arginine (Arg) in all body parts of all snails. Sulfur amino acid was the lowest value in C. aspersum, which indicated that methionine (Met) and cysteine (Cys) could have been the first limiting amino acids. The study results showed that the protein efficiency rate (PER) of C. aspersum is close to PER of egg, which indicates a high protein quality and high biological value of land snails. The study also demonstrated that the experimental diet had good acceptability and well-balanced essential amino acid content, meaning that the farmed snails could have almost the same protein characterization as wild snails. Thus, all body parts of both wild and farmed C. aspersum have high protein quality.