Fatty Acid Profile and Escherichia coli and Salmonella sp. Load of Wild-Caught Seaweed Fly Fucellia maritima (Haliday, 1838) (Diptera: Anthomyiidae)

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 15; no. 3; p. 163
• Main Authors: Lourenço, Felipe, Calado, Ricardo, Pinho, Marisa, Domingues, Maria Rosário, Medina, Isabel, Ameixa, Olga M C C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.02.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Agricultural wastes; Algae; Animal feed; Animals; Aquaculture; Aquatic animals; Aquatic insects; Arachidonic acid; Bacteria; Biomass; Biomolecules; Chromatography; coastal insect species; Communication; E coli; Eicosapentaenoic acid; Enterobacteriaceae; essential fatty acids (EFAs); Essential nutrients; Fatty acids; Feeds; Fish; Flies; Food conversion; Food waste; Foodborne pathogens; Freshwater fish; Fucellia; Ingredients; insect feed; Insects; Lecithin; Linoleic acid; lipidic profile; Lipids; Marine animals; Marine fish; Marine organisms; Microbiological analysis; Nitrogen; Nutrients; Oleic acid; Palmitoleic acid; Phosphatidylcholine; Phosphatidylethanolamine; Phospholipids; Polyunsaturated fatty acids; Salmonella; Seaweeds; Shellfish; Shrimps; Sustainable production; United States > US; Portugal; insect feed; aquaculture; lipidic profile; coastal insect species; essential fatty acids (EFAs)
• ISSN: 2075-4450; 2075-4450
• DOI: 10.3390/insects15030163

World aquaculture is expected to continue to grow over the next few decades, which amplifies the need for a higher production of sustainable feed ingredients for aquatic animals. Insects are considered good candidates for aquafeed ingredients because of their ability to convert food waste into highly nutritional biomass. However, commercially available terrestrial insect species lack long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs), which are essential biomolecules for marine cultured species. Nevertheless, several coastal insect species feature LC-PUFAs in their natural fatty acid (FA) profile. Here, we analysed the lipidic profile of wild-caught seaweed fly , with a focus on their FA profile, to evaluate its potential to be used as an aquafeed ingredient, as well as to screen for the presence of pathogenic bacteria. Results showed that the flies had a total lipid content of 13.2% of their total dry weight. The main classes of phospholipids (PLs) recorded were phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs) (60.8%), followed by phosphatidylcholine (PC) (17.1%). The most abundant FA was palmitoleic acid (C16:0) with 34.9% ± 4.3 of total FAs, followed by oleic acid (C18:1) with 30.4% ± 2.3. The FA composition of the flies included essential fatty acids (EFAs) for both freshwater fish, namely linoleic acid (C18:2 ) with 3.4% ± 1.3 and alpha-linoleic acid (C18:3 ) with 3.4% ± 1.9, and marine fish, namely arachidonic acid (C20:4 ) with 1.1% ± 0.3 and eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5 ) with 6.1% ± 1.2. The microbiological analysis found 9.1 colony-forming units per gram (CFU/g) of Enterobacteriaceae and no presence of sp. was detected in a sample of 25 g of fresh weight. These findings indicate that biomass holds the potential to be used as an additional aquafeed ingredient due to its FA profile and the low count of pathogenic bacteria, which can contribute to the optimal growth of fish and shrimp with a low risk of pathogen transfer during the feed production chain.