Nutrition, Safety, Health Functional Effects, and Availability of Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Drone Pupae.

Jae-Suk Choi

doi:10.3390/insects12090771

Abstract

Simple SummaryIn July 2020, honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) drone pupae were registered as food ingredients in Korea. According to previous studies, this material has carbohydrates, fats, and proteins and contains amino acids, fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins, and is promising as an alternative food source. Prior studies have empirically demonstrated the microbiological and chemical safety of honeybee drone pupae. The health functional effects of this material have also been documented. This review describes the nutritional composition, safety, functionality, and availability of honeybee drone pupae reported so far. However, a comparison of the nutritional components of major livestock and other edible insects with those of honeybee pupae is needed. Future studies should continue to assess the allergic, parasitic, and other chemical hazards of honeybee drone pupae to ensure safety against unidentified hazards and investigate the functionality of honeybee drone pupae according to the criteria of traditional eastern medical texts. The review contributes to the literature because the citations it examined all empirically demonstrated and confirmed the nutritional value, food safety, and possible medicinal efficacy of honeybee drone pupa. This information could help increase profitability, improve apiary production sustainability, and generate alternative food and medicine sources.Since ancient times, honeybee drone pupae have been used as food and for medicinal purposes in Asia, the United States, and Europe. Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) drone pupae have been registered as food ingredients in Korea. This material is promising as an alternative food source. It has carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and contains various amino acids and fatty acids as well as minerals and vitamins. Prior studies have empirically demonstrated the microbiological and chemical safety of honeybee drone pupae. The health functional effects of this material have been documented as well. However, to the best of my knowledge, no review has been conducted on the published studies to date. This review aimed to summarize the research findings on honeybee drone pupae thus far. Online databases were searched according to the selection criteria, duplicate reports were excluded, and 22 eligible articles were reviewed. Conclusionally, it was confirmed that honeybee drone pupae have various nutritional components, safety as a food and cosmetic material, and various available possibilities, but more systematic studies are needed to increase their consumption. Therefore, it is believed that this synopsis will help guide future research on honeybee drone pupae.

Highlights

Six articles addressing the nutritional composition of honeybee drone pupae collected from various regions were identified
T1 and T2 had significantly (p < 0.05) firmer textures than the control. These findings suggest that drone pupa meal (DPM) does not effectively replace sodium nitrite (SN) or vitamin C (VC) and negatively affects color, lipid oxidation stability, and texture in emulsion-type sausage
The findings reported in the six articles addressing nutritional composition included in this review indicated that honeybee drone pupae are a rich source of proteins and other essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, amino acids, minerals, and vitamins and could, be a valuable food ingredient

Summary

Introduction

Beekeeping is the oldest method of insect breeding [1]. In Korea, both Asian honeybees (Apis cerana) and Western honeybees (Apis mellifera) are raised in apiaries [2]. A colony consists of worker bees, which are sterile females that constitute the majority of the colony, drone bees, which are male reproductive bees, and one queen bee capable of laying eggs. The queen bee creates new generations by breeding with the male drone bees. The drones are either expelled from the herd or killed to maintain the community. After the queen lays eggs and the larvae hatch, they are fed royal jelly provided by worker bees. A larger amount of royal jelly is provided for a longer period of time to the larvae that are expected to become queens [3]

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