Chemical vs. Enzymatic Refining to Produce Peanut Oil for Edible Use or to Obtain a Sustainable and Cost-Effective Protector for Stored Grains against Sitophilus zeamais (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

Among the various existing techniques, enzymatic degumming represents a process that is establishing itself as a valid alternative to the more classic chemical processes. Moreover, vegetable oils of various origins have been gaining more consideration as sustainable and affordable protectants for cereals and pulses against the attack of several insect pests. Sitophilus zeamais (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is one of the key pests of cereal crops in the field and in stored and processed cereal products. Based on these highlighted issues, the overall aim of this research was twofold: (i) firstly, the effectiveness of the enzymatic degumming process was evaluated through the use of three different enzymes in order to verify the possible industrial application within the SALOV company as an alternative to the conventional chemical process; (ii) in a second phase, the possible use of the innovative refined oils was explored for sustainable stored grain protection towards S. zeamais. The results obtained confirm the strong possibility of applying the enzymatic process, which is innovative and, in a chemical way, more sustainable than the classical one. Regarding the toxicity towards S. zeamais, the crude peanut oil and the chemically refined peanut oil had lower LC50 values (1.836 and 1.372 g kg-1, respectively) than the oils rectified through enzymatic degumming (LC50 from 2.453 to 4.076 g kg-1), and, therefore, they can be suggested as sustainable stored grain protectants.

Effects of flaxseed cake fortification on bread shelf life, and its possible use as feed for Tenebrio molitor larvae in a circular economy: preliminary results.

BACKGROUND: Bread represents a significant share of food waste worldwide. The extension of the bread shelf life together with innovative systems of food waste treatment might decrease waste biomass decay, the need for transportation, and the need for storage. In recent years, insects have been selected as a valuable tool for food waste treatment owing to their capability to transform low-value food waste into biomass with high nutritional value. Bakery wastes can be used profitably for this purpose. This work had two objectives: (i) to measure the impact of flaxseed cake fortification on bread shelf life depending on the leavening agent (baker's yeast vs sourdough); (ii) to evaluate the possible reuse of the stale bread fortified with flaxseed cake for Tenebrio molitor rearing. RESULTS: Our results showed that fortification seemed to slow the hardening rate of bread, particularly if baker's yeast was used. The time necessary for mold to appear in sourdough bread doubled (from 2 to 4 days). The addition of flaxseed cake to the recipe determined an increase of its scrap consumption by T. molitor larvae. We also observed a significant increase in the body mass of the T. molitor larvae fed with bread obtained with the brewer's yeast with respect to larvae fed with the sourdough. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these preliminary data can indicate that sourdough bread fortified with 5% of flaxseed cake can represent a promising tool to reduce food waste and to recycle bread scraps by a novel zero-waste approach. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Old ingredients for a new recipe? Neem cake, a low-cost botanical by-product in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases.

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) represent an important threat to millions of people worldwide, since they act as vectors for important pathogens, such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue and West Nile. Control programmes mainly rely on chemical treatments against larvae, indoor residual spraying and insecticide-treated bed nets. In recent years, huge efforts have been carried out to propose new eco-friendly alternatives, with a special focus on the evaluation of plant-borne mosquitocidal compounds. Major examples are neem-based products (Azadirachta indica A. Juss, Meliaceae) that have been proven as really effective against a huge range of pests of medical and veterinary importance, including mosquitoes. Recent research highlighted that neem cake, a cheap by-product from neem oil extraction, is an important source of mosquitocidal metabolites. In this review, we examined (i) the latest achievements about neem cake metabolomics with special reference to nor-terpenoid and related content; (ii) the neem cake ovicidal, larvicidal and pupicidal toxicity against Aedes, Anopheles and Culex mosquito vectors; (iii) its non-target effects against vertebrates; and (iv) its oviposition deterrence effects on mosquito females. Overall, neem cake can be proposed as an eco-friendly and low-cost source of chemicals to build newer and safer control tools against mosquito vectors.