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Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor): Potential and Challenges to Promote Circular Economy

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The main objective of this review is to analyse the potential of insects from the perspective of circular economy, focusing our attention on mealworm larvae. After pointing out the key concepts of circular economy and describing the use of insects in bioconversion processes, we discu...

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Autores principales: Moruzzo, Roberta, Riccioli, Francesco, Espinosa Diaz, Salomon, Secci, Chiara, Poli, Giulio, Mancini, Simone
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8468824/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34573534
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11092568
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author Moruzzo, Roberta
Riccioli, Francesco
Espinosa Diaz, Salomon
Secci, Chiara
Poli, Giulio
Mancini, Simone
author_facet Moruzzo, Roberta
Riccioli, Francesco
Espinosa Diaz, Salomon
Secci, Chiara
Poli, Giulio
Mancini, Simone
author_sort Moruzzo, Roberta
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: The main objective of this review is to analyse the potential of insects from the perspective of circular economy, focusing our attention on mealworm larvae. After pointing out the key concepts of circular economy and describing the use of insects in bioconversion processes, we discuss the most relevant uses of the mealworm in different industries, which show the great contribution this insect can make within circular productive systems. This topic has attracted a lot of attention due to its implications from an economic and environmental point of view. Recently, mealworm larvae were positively assessed by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as a safe novel food. As a matter of fact, the mealworm is the first edible insect to achieve this important milestone in the EU. Due to this new scientific opinion, considerable expectations arise on mealworms and their potential in different fields, which will surely lead to market developments in the following years. ABSTRACT: Over the last few years, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has received a lot of attention due to its potential contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially by reconciling economic growth with the protection of the environment through its grow-make-use-restore approach. The use of insects in circular production systems has been a good example of this concept as insects can transform a wide range of organic waste and by-products into nutritious feedstuffs, which then go back into the production cycle. This paper explores the potential of mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) in circular production systems by reviewing their use and applicability in several industries such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food, etc. Despite the high versatility of this insect and its potential as a substitute source of nutrients and other valuable components, there are still many legislative and behavioural challenges that hinder its adoption and acceptance.
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spelling pubmed-84688242021-09-27 Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor): Potential and Challenges to Promote Circular Economy Moruzzo, Roberta Riccioli, Francesco Espinosa Diaz, Salomon Secci, Chiara Poli, Giulio Mancini, Simone Animals (Basel) Review SIMPLE SUMMARY: The main objective of this review is to analyse the potential of insects from the perspective of circular economy, focusing our attention on mealworm larvae. After pointing out the key concepts of circular economy and describing the use of insects in bioconversion processes, we discuss the most relevant uses of the mealworm in different industries, which show the great contribution this insect can make within circular productive systems. This topic has attracted a lot of attention due to its implications from an economic and environmental point of view. Recently, mealworm larvae were positively assessed by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as a safe novel food. As a matter of fact, the mealworm is the first edible insect to achieve this important milestone in the EU. Due to this new scientific opinion, considerable expectations arise on mealworms and their potential in different fields, which will surely lead to market developments in the following years. ABSTRACT: Over the last few years, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has received a lot of attention due to its potential contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially by reconciling economic growth with the protection of the environment through its grow-make-use-restore approach. The use of insects in circular production systems has been a good example of this concept as insects can transform a wide range of organic waste and by-products into nutritious feedstuffs, which then go back into the production cycle. This paper explores the potential of mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) in circular production systems by reviewing their use and applicability in several industries such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food, etc. Despite the high versatility of this insect and its potential as a substitute source of nutrients and other valuable components, there are still many legislative and behavioural challenges that hinder its adoption and acceptance. MDPI 2021-08-31 /pmc/articles/PMC8468824/ /pubmed/34573534 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11092568 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Moruzzo, Roberta
Riccioli, Francesco
Espinosa Diaz, Salomon
Secci, Chiara
Poli, Giulio
Mancini, Simone
Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor): Potential and Challenges to Promote Circular Economy
title Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor): Potential and Challenges to Promote Circular Economy
title_full Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor): Potential and Challenges to Promote Circular Economy
title_fullStr Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor): Potential and Challenges to Promote Circular Economy
title_full_unstemmed Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor): Potential and Challenges to Promote Circular Economy
title_short Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor): Potential and Challenges to Promote Circular Economy
title_sort mealworm (tenebrio molitor): potential and challenges to promote circular economy
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8468824/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34573534
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11092568
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