Black soldier fly larvae ( Hermetiaillucens ) as a novel and sustainable source of nutrition and bioactive compounds

Abstract

The world population is predicted to increase to ~10 billion by 2050 and the world hunger is nearly 10% of the world’s population. (1) The growing population underline the need for reliable alternative solutions to support future food security while decreasing the impact on global sustainability. Food industry has recently shown increasing interest in edible insects due to their high nutritional values and low environmental footprints. (2) Edible insects are currently consumed by some two billion people in over 130 countries and rearing them is more sustainable and economical compared to livestock farming. Edible insects such as black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are highly efficient at converting low value food waste into valuable nutrient sources, making them a great solution to global food wastage problem. (2) BSFL show an immense potential as a viable alternative for protein and oil in food and feed. This study focused on exploring the nutritional composition of Australian grown BSFL and antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of BSFL chitin compared to commercial chitin. Australian grown dried BSFL was tested for the proximate composition and the sample was fractionated into oil, protein, and chitin fractions.(3) The chitin fraction was then evaluated for their DPPH radical scavenging activities and antimicrobial activities using well diffusion method. (4) All analyses were conducted in triplicates. The Tukey’s significant difference test was performed and p < 0.05 was regarded as significant. The results indicated protein (53.7 ± 0.15%), oil (34.7 ± 0.96%), and chitin (7.0 ± 0.15%) as three main usable fractions in BSFL. Protein was rich in essential amino acids including valine (6.0 ± 0.07%), leucine (5.4 ± 0.05%) and lysine (5.0 ± 0.16%). BSFL oil was observed with a healthy fatty acid profile and the most abundant fatty acid was lauric acid (42.0 ± 0.32%), a medium-chain fatty acid known for its biochemical, nutritional and health benefits. Chitin fraction, the remaining residue after fat and protein extraction showed strong antioxidant activities (82.0 ± 0.71%) compared to commercial shrimp chitin (75 ± 0.68%) at the concentration of 50 mg/mL (p < 0.05). Additionally, BSFL chitin was observed with higher microbial inhibition zones against Escherichia coli (7.0 ± 0.19 mm) and Staphylococcus aureus (9.0 ± 0.12 mm) compared to antimicrobial activities of commercial shrimp chitin against E. coli (5.0 ± 0.03 mm) and S. aureus (6.0 ± 0.32 mm) (p < 0.05). These outcomes underscore the potential of BSFL as a source of healthy fatty acids, essential amino acids, and bioactive compounds such as lauric acid and chitin.