Centro di Referenza Nazionale per la Toxoplasmosi, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia A. Mirri, Via Passo Gravina 195, 95125 Catania, Italy.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2183-4720 [M.P.].
J Food Prot. 2021 Mar 1;84(3):437-441. doi: 10.4315/JFP-20-239.
Novel foods, such as edible insects and food products on the basis of insects, could play an important role in both human and animal nutrition in the future. The identification of dangers associated with insect consumption is fundamental to guarantee consumer safety and adequate regulatory guidelines for operators of the food sector. Although former studies have focused on the microbiological contamination of fresh or processed edible insects, so far little information is available about the occurrence of foodborne parasites, such as Toxoplasma gondii, whose life cycles make them candidates for potential insect breeding substrate contamination. Hence, we investigated the presence of contaminating T. gondii in farmed edible insects to rule out this further hazard for consumers. Four species of insects most commonly used as food for human consumption were analyzed: mealworm; African migratory locust, house cricket, and silkworm. Samples included live specimens but also minimally (dehydrated) and highly processed edible insects. Traces of T. gondii DNA were detected in samples of dehydrated mealworm. These results highlight the need for implementing good farming and processing practices with particular care paid to safe storage and handling of feed and substrates used for edible insects to reduce the chance of T. gondii entering the human food chain.
新型食品，如食用昆虫和以昆虫为基础的食品，未来可能在人类和动物营养方面发挥重要作用。识别与昆虫消费相关的危险对于保障消费者安全和为食品部门的经营者提供适当的监管指南至关重要。尽管以前的研究集中在新鲜或加工食用昆虫的微生物污染上，但目前关于食源性寄生虫（如刚地弓形虫）的信息很少，其生命周期使其成为潜在昆虫养殖基质污染的候选者。因此，我们调查了养殖食用昆虫中是否存在污染性刚地弓形虫，以排除消费者面临的这一潜在危害。分析了四种最常用于人类食用的昆虫：粉虫；非洲沙漠蝗、家蟋蟀和家蚕。样本包括活标本，也包括经过最小（脱水）和高度加工的食用昆虫。在脱水粉虫样本中检测到刚地弓形虫的 DNA 痕迹。这些结果强调了需要实施良好的养殖和加工实践，特别注意安全储存和处理用于食用昆虫的饲料和基质，以降低刚地弓形虫进入人类食物链的机会。
