A REVIEW OF ZOPHOBAS MORIO: CHEMICAL, NUTRITIONAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

With the increase in population and the growing demand for protein, new food alternatives with less environmental impacts are being studied, such as edible insects. The objective was to carry out an integrative bibliographic review regarding the chemical, nutritional and functional characteristics of the insect Zophobas morio. For this, the descriptors were used: Zophobas morio, nutritional composition, chemical composition, functional food, probiotics and Lactobacillus to search five databases (Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, Capes and SciElo), which after reading and selection, resulted in 11 articles. This reduced number of articles is due to the fact that, even today, this species of insect is little studied. In this review, it was possible to condense the main results described in the literature regarding the dry matter, crude protein, fat, oleic acid, ash, iron and calcium parameters of Zophobas morio. Among these results, attention is drawn to the protein content of the insect, since studies have shown that comparing it to other food sources, such as meat, it is noted that the insect flour is quite superior, having about 45g of protein for every 100g of flour. The values found for lipids were between 14.25 and 43.64g / 100g. In the case of iron content, the values found were from 1.65mg to 9.15mg / 100g. For calcium, the content remained between 17.7mg and 60mg / 100g. Thus, flour from the insect Zophobas morio can be a potential sustainable food source, alone or associated with other foods.