Browsing by Author "Egonyu, James P."

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    Contemporary and traditional practices towards the conservation and management of edible insects across the globe : a review.
    (Springer Nature, 2025) Ochieng, Hannington; Egonyu, James P.
    Edible insects (EIs) have become a subject of great interest globally in terms of their exploitation, consumption, and conservation as an environmentally sustainable source of food for the rapidly growing human population. Despite this, their sustainable exploitation and conservation may not be achieved as a result of several potential threats faced by insects. This review collated information on the available contemporary and traditional conservation and management practices from different parts of the globe for emulation to improve entomophagy sustainability. The review shows dominance by contemporary practices in developed regions and traditional practices in developing regions with prominent entomophagy. The key contemporary practices are land protection and land management, survey and monitoring, legislative actions, creation of protected areas, and biosecurity measures. On the other hand, traditional practices are mainly environmentally friendly harvesting, protection of habitats, local restrictions on harvesting, monitoring, and semi-natural farming. The review also shows inadequacy in comprehensive ecological surveys and monitoring of insects worldwide, thus limiting data collection and decision-making for sustainable EI exploitation and conservation. It identifies biological invasions and pesticide contamination as some of the major potential hazards associated with the sustainability of entomophagy, calling for their research and keen monitoring. Traditional knowledge practices relevant for sustainable exploitation, monitoring, and conservation of EIs exist among rural communities globally, especially in Asia, Africa, and South America. It is of relevance to combine this knowledge and scientific research to further improve the understanding, monitoring, and conservation of EIs as human food and animal feed resources.
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    Pre-harvest starvation effects on microbial load, weight loss and proximate composition of edible field cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus) and desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria).
    (Springer Nature, 2025) Egonyu, James P.; Labu, Simon; Nyangena, Dorothy N.; Khamis, Fathiya; Cheseto, Xavier; Chrysantus Mbi Tanga; Sevgan Subramanian
    Rearing edible insects on different agricultural waste streams predisposes them to microbial contamination which poses health risks to consumers. In this study, the effect of pre-harvest starvation on microbial load, weight loss and proximate composition of the edible field cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus) and the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) were investigated, with a view to evaluating this practice as a safety measure against pathogenic microbes in farmed edible insects. The allocated starvation times were 0 h, 12 h, 24 h, 36 h and 48 h. The weights of the starved insects were monitored and the weight loss computed. Live starved insects were cultured on standard media for detection of Salmonella and Campylobacter pathogens; and for microbial quantification. Proximate composition of the starved insects was determined using standard chemical analyses. The weights of both species of starved insects reduced by 20–45%; and their dry matter, crude protein, crude fat, crude ash and crude fibre contents were also significantly reduced by the different durations of starvation. The total viable count (TVC) and yeast and mould count (YMC) reduced significantly from unstarved insects, in both G. bimaculatus and S. gregaria, reaching their minima after 12 h and 24 h of starvation, respectively. However, the bacterial and fungal loads in both insect species increased with further starvation to levels above or below prestarvation points, respectively. Irrespective of the starvation period, all samples of G. bimaculatus and S. gregaria tested positive for Salmonella, but negative for Campylobacter species. Clearly, even though the pre-harvest starvation significantly reduced the microbial loads in the edible insects, there is a need for a benefit–cost analysis of the safety enhancement of the practice vis a vis the losses in weight and the nutritional composition of the insects.