The hidden 'plant side' of insect novel foods: A DNA-based assessment.
Food Res Int
; 128: 108751, 2020 02.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31955731
ABSTRACT
In the context of novel foods, a category for which the market demand is increasing worldwide, the consumption of edible insects and related insect-based products is expected to grow in the next years. Insects represent an important source of energy for the human diet but there is a lack of scientific knowledge about their processing to ensure safe food items to the consumer. In this study we adopted a combined DNA-based approach to verify the identity of the declared species in five categories of commercial insect-based products (mt COI DNA barcoding) and to characterize plant declared ingredients or contaminants (nu ITS2 DNA metabarcoding) with particular attention to putative elements of allergenic concern belonging, for example to the insect rearing substrate. Moreover, the same approach has been used to assess its sensitivity to cases of contamination and counterfeits to insect flour with low cost (and potentially allergenic) vegetable flours like wheat and soybean. Results show the success of insect DNA barcoding authentication even for highly processed products. Furthermore, the DNA metabarcoding analysis revealed a high efficacy as a screening method to identify both plant ingredients and vegetal traces belonging to insect farming or possible adulteration events, also acting as an early warning strategy for the occurrence of allergens of human concern. This approach could support the development of new risk assessment procedures for novel foods by regulatory authorities to ensure their quality, safety, and acceptance which will become more required in order to face the challenge of feeding the world population in the next decades.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Food Contamination
/
DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic
/
Flour
/
Food Handling
/
Food Hypersensitivity
/
Edible Insects
Type of study:
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Food Res Int
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italia