Applicability of analytical methods for determining the composition of edible insects in German Food Control

Although edible insects are commercially available on European market, there are currently no validated methods for determining the composition of edible insects. To check whether existing official analytical procedures, validated for other food matrices, are applicable to edible insects, a value comparison with four participating laboratories was carried out. Within this experiment, precision data and performance assessments for the parameters moisture, ash, crude protein, total fat and sodium were calculated using the methods of the Official Collection of Methods of Analysis and Sampling pursuant to the German Food and Feed Act. The investigations were performed on house crickets (Acheta domesticus), honey bee drone brood (Apis mellifera), black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) and mealworms (Tenebrio molitor). To compare the results with the corresponding specifications, z scores for performance evaluation were calculated using independent target standard deviations. The results provide a basis for verification of in-house procedures of laboratories and thus for comparable investigations of the composition of edible insects.