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Barbara Pöllinger-Zierler1, Andrea Lienhard1, Chiara Mayer1

  • 1Sustainable Food Management, Institute of Applied Production Sciences, Department of Engineering, University of Applied Sciences, FH JOANNEUM GmbH, Eggenberger Allee 11, 8020 Graz, Austria.

Foods (Basel, Switzerland)
|June 10, 2023
PubMed
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Yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) are a sustainable protein source. Processing via heating and starvation significantly reduces microbial load, ensuring safe human consumption without substrate influence.

Area of Science:

  • Entomology
  • Food Science
  • Microbiology

Background:

  • Growing interest in sustainable alternative protein sources.
  • Yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) as a viable option.
  • Need to assess microbial safety for human consumption.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Analyze substrate influence on Tenebrio molitor larval microbiome.
  • Determine effective processing methods for microbial reduction.
  • Evaluate safety of mealworms for human nutrition.

Main Methods:

  • Cultivating mealworms on 10 diverse food production by-product substrates.
  • Analyzing microbial loads using selective media.
  • Implementing starvation/defecation and heating (850 W for 10 min) for decontamination.
Keywords:
alternative protein sourceby-products from food productionlarvae of Tenebrio molitormicrobial loadreuse of by-productssafe food choicesustainabilityyellow mealworm

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Main Results:

  • No significant correlation found between substrate microbial load and mealworm microbiome.
  • Starvation and defecation effectively reduced microbial counts.
  • Heating significantly reduced microbes in non-defecated mealworms.
  • Combined heating and defecation eliminated detectable microbial load.

Conclusions:

  • Substrate choice does not impact Tenebrio molitor larval microbial load.
  • Heating and starvation are effective methods for ensuring risk-free mealworm consumption.
  • This research supports the safety of mealworms as a sustainable protein source for human diets.