title: Microbial counts of mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor) and crickets (Acheta domesticus and Gryllodes sigillatus) from different rearing companies and different production batches.
abstract: The rising interest in insects for human consumption and the changing regulations in Europe require a profound insight into the food safety of insects reared and sold in Western society. The microbial quality of edible insects has only been studied occasionally. This study aimed at generating an overview of intrinsic parameters (pH, water activity and moisture content) and microbial quality of fresh mealworm larvae and crickets for several rearing companies and for several batches per rearer. In total, 21 batches obtained from 7 rearing companies were subjected to analysis of intrinsic parameters, a range of plate counts and presence-absence tests for Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes. The microbial counts of the fresh insects were generally high. Different rearing batches from a single rearing company showed differences in microbial counts which could not be explained by variations in intrinsic properties. The largest variations were found in numbers of bacterial endospores, psychrotrophs and fungi. Salmonella spp. and L. monocytogenes were not detected in any of the samples. Altogether, our study shows that large variations were found between batches from individual rearers. As a consequence, no overall differences between rearers could be observed.
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M(2)S), Lab4Food, Technology Campus Geel, B-2440 Geel, Belgium; KU Leuven, Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe), B-3001 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: dries.vandeweyer@kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vandeweyer
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M(2)S), Laboratory for Process Microbial Ecology and Bioinspirational Management (PME & BIM), Technology Campus De Nayer, B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium; KU Leuven, Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe), B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crauwels
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M(2)S), Laboratory for Process Microbial Ecology and Bioinspirational Management (PME & BIM), Technology Campus De Nayer, B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium; KU Leuven, Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe), B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lievens
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M(2)S), Lab4Food, Technology Campus Geel, B-2440 Geel, Belgium; KU Leuven, Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe), B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Campenhout
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005060:Europe; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D059022:Food Safety; D005658:Fungi / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006135:Gryllidae / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology*; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012475:Salmonella / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013712:Tenebrio / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Crickets; Edible insects; Mealworm larvae; Microbial counts; Water activity (a(w)); pH