Nutritional, functional properties and estimated shelf-life of defatted Rhynchophorus phoenicis (Fabricius, 1801) larvae flours

Abstract

Rhynchophorus phoenicis (Fabricius, 1801) is an insect of the coleopteran family widely consumed in Africa and particularly in Cameroon. Their dehydrated larvae are rich in lipids and proteins that can help in combating malnutrition. The present work aimed at producing low-lipid content larvae flours of R. phoenicis and to determine their nutritional and functional properties as well as their estimated shelf-life. The flour was obtained by the cooking-pressing process. The shelf-life of the flour was estimated using adsorption isotherms. The results showed that the flours obtained had low lipids (8 g/100 g of flour) and high protein content (69 g/100 g of flour). Their water and oil absorption capacities, swelling power, foaming properties and foam stability make them good ingredients for food formulations. As regards of storage capacity, the adsorption isotherms obtained can be modelled by the Guggenheim-Anderson-and-de-Boer (GAB) and Brunauer-Emmett-and-Teller (BET) equations. The shelf-life was estimated at 300 days when flour is packed in polyethylene bag and stored at 20°C in enclosure with a relative humidity of 90%. In short, the cooking pressing process makes it possible to obtain flours of high nutritional and technological values. The resulting flours can be used as ingredients to fortify food with poor proteins content.