Nutritional Value of Four Common Edible Insects in Zambia

"BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Insects have played an important part in the history of human nutrition in Africa. The main objective of this research was to assess the nutritional value of four commonly edible insects in Zambia. The insects studied include the caterpillars (Gonimbrasia belina and Gynanisa maja), grasshopper (Ruspolia differens) and winged termites ( Macrotermes falciger). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The proximate composition and minerals of the insects were determined using standard methods. One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used in analysing the data. RESULTS: The moisture content of the insects ranged from 4.1% ±0.3 to 9.2%±0.1. The highest amount of crude fat was found in Ruspolia differens with fat content of 49.0 % ±0.1 and the least amount was found in Gonimbrasia belina which had a mean fat content of 10.0 % ± 0.2. The difference in fat content among the insects was statistically significant with P0.05. However there was a significant difference in protein content between Gonimbrasia belina and the other two insects namely Ruspolia differens and Macrotermes falciger with the P-value "