Ramos Lucia Cuesta, Rodríguez-García Aroa, Castagnini Juan M, Salgado-Ramos Manuel, Martínez-Culebras Pedro V, Barba Francisco J, Pallarés Noelia
Research Group in Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Food (ALISOST), Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Science, Toxicology and Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitat de València, Avda. Vicent Andrés Estellés, s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain.
Facultad de Ciencias y Tecnologías Químicas, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Avda. Camilo José Cela 10, 13005 Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, Spain.
Foods. 2024 Oct 11;13(20):3233. doi: 10.3390/foods13203233.
Edible Insects (EIs) are an alternative source of bioactive compounds such as proteins or fatty acids and micronutrients as vitamins or minerals, thus showing potential to replace traditional foodstuffs in an economical and environmentally friendly way. Nonetheless, EIs can accumulate hazardous chemicals such as mycotoxins and heavy metals. The aim of the present study is to determine mycotoxins and heavy metal content in raw insect samples and those resulting products obtained after supercritical fluid extraction (SFE). Insect samples included (cricket) meal, (mealworm) meal, (buffalo worm), and (locust). For this purpose, a QuEChERS method followed by LC-MS/MS analysis was optimized with good results for the analysis of mycotoxins, principally Aflatoxins (AFs), Ochratoxin A (OTA), and Enniatins (ENNs). In contrast, heavy metals (As, Cd, Hg, Pb) were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results obtained revealed that Locust was positive for AFG2 at a level of 115.5 μg/kg, and mealworm was only contaminated with OTA at 58.1 μg/kg. Emerging mycotoxins (ENNA, ENNA1, ENNB, and ENNB1) were detected at lower levels < 2.2 µg/Kg. Concerning heavy metals, limits exceeding regulation were detected for Cd in the insect species studied, with levels up to 219 μg/kg, and for Pb in crickets (100.3 μg/kg). Finally, the analysis of the post-extraction solids after SFE processing revealed that heavy metals remained in the resulting SFE cakes, while mycotoxins were detected at negligible levels (up to 1.3 µg/Kg).
可食用昆虫是生物活性化合物（如蛋白质或脂肪酸）以及微量营养素（如维生素或矿物质）的替代来源，因此显示出以经济和环境友好的方式替代传统食品的潜力。尽管如此，可食用昆虫可能会积累有害化学物质，如霉菌毒素和重金属。本研究的目的是测定生昆虫样品以及超临界流体萃取（SFE）后所得产品中的霉菌毒素和重金属含量。昆虫样品包括（蟋蟀）粉、（黄粉虫）粉、（水牛蠕虫）和（蝗虫）。为此，优化了一种QuEChERS方法，随后进行LC-MS/MS分析，对霉菌毒素（主要是黄曲霉毒素（AFs）、赭曲霉毒素A（OTA）和恩镰孢菌素（ENNs））的分析取得了良好结果。相比之下，重金属（砷、镉、汞、铅）通过电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）测定。所得结果表明，蝗虫中AFG2呈阳性，含量为115.5微克/千克，黄粉虫仅被58.1微克/千克的OTA污染。新兴霉菌毒素（ENNA、ENNA1、ENNB和ENNB1）的检测水平较低，<2.2微克/千克。关于重金属，在所研究的昆虫物种中检测到镉的含量超过规定限值，高达219微克/千克，蟋蟀中的铅含量为100.3微克/千克。最后，对SFE处理后的萃取后固体进行分析发现，重金属保留在所得的SFE饼中，而霉菌毒素的检测水平可忽略不计（高达1.3微克/千克）。
