Abstract
Black soldier fly (BSF, Hermetia illucens) represents a valuable source of biomolecules and it also constitutes an economic way to valorise residual biomasses. BSF prepupae contain high amounts of lipids (37% DM basis). The present investigation aimed at studying the composition of BSF lipids and the effect of killing/storage on their quality. The main fatty acid was lauric acid, sterols were represented primarily by beta-sitosterol and campesterol. Global fatty acid and sterol profiles, determined by GC–MS, were only slightly affected by the killing procedure, while lipid classes distribution, determined by 1H NMR, strongly changed. Prepupae killed by freezing showed a drastic reduction of acylglycerols during storage and a relevant release of free fatty acids, likely due to activation of lipases. On the contrary, prepupae killed by blanching have a stable lipid fraction constituted mainly by triacylglycerols. Therefore, killing procedure strongly influences BSF oil composition and the potential applications.
Highlights
Entomophagy, the consumption of insects for food purposes, is conventionally practiced in many regions of the world, such as Asia, South America, Australia and Africa (Caparros Megido et al, 2013)
Sample BSF1, consisting of frozen Black Soldier Fly (BSF) prepupae having been killed by freezing before reception in the laboratory, was used to test the effect of different extraction systems on BSF lipids
The amount of bound lauric acid increased from 45.6 to 75.9%. These results indicate some selective hydrolytic reactions during storage of BSF2 sample not subjected to thermal treatment, suggesting a selective cleavage of unsaturated fatty acids by lipase enzymes
Summary
Entomophagy, the consumption of insects for food purposes, is conventionally practiced in many regions of the world, such as Asia, South America, Australia and Africa (Caparros Megido et al, 2013). Insects are not the main source of energy in any Countries, but they could complement in the future the traditional sources of protein and lipid. Certain insect species contain high proportions of fat (Barroso et al, 2014; Ramos-Elorduy, 1997), thereby opening interesting possibilities for food applications, and for other industrial purposes, as biodiesel production. Transformation of whole insects into meals, protein and other fractions for food/feed ingredients can be viewed as a necessary step to enhance the acceptability and the diffusion of insects. To address this point, fractionation strategies were recently developed to separate lipid, protein and chitin from BSF prepupae: (Caligiani et al, 2018).
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