INSECTS' FEED

Abstract

The present invention relates to an insects' feed containing a gel, said gel comprising: (i) a first polysaccharide being cassia gum, konjac gum and/or locust bean gum; (ii) a second polysaccharide different from the first polysaccharide, and (iii) at least 90 wt.-% water based on the total weight of the feed.

Claims

1. An insects' feed containing a gel, said gel comprising a first polysaccharide being cassia gum, konjac gum and/or locust bean gum, a second polysaccharide different from the first polysaccharide, and at least 90 wt.-% water based on the total weight of the feed.

2. The feed according to claim 1, wherein the second polysaccharide is xanthan gum and/or carrageenan gum.

3. The feed according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of first polysaccharide:second polysaccharide is 10:90 to 90:10.

4. The feed according to claim 1, wherein the gel of the insects' feed further comprises a salt.

5. The feed according to claim 4, wherein the salt is potassium chloride.

6. The feed according to claim 1, having a dry substance value of up to 40 wt. %.

7. The feed according to claim 1, further comprising nutrients, preservatives, minerals, proteins, and/or vitamins.

8. The feed according to claim 1, having a cohesiveness of at least 500 g.

9. The feed according to claim 1, having a firmness of at least 1 g.

10. The feed according to claim 1, having a T.sub.gel of more than 30° C.

11. A method of preparing an insects' feed, the method comprising the steps of: i. providing a gelling mixture having a gelling temperature in water, said mixture comprising a first polysaccharide and a second polysaccharide, wherein the first polysaccharide is cassia gum, konjac gum and/or locust bean gum, wherein the second polysaccharide is different from the first polysaccharide, ii. adding the gelling mixture and mixing to obtain an aqueous mixture having a gelling temperature; iii. keeping the aqueous mixture above the gelling temperature to prevent the formation of a gel; iv. cooling the aqueous mixture to obtain an insects' feed; and v. optionally, breaking down the insects' feed into fragments.

12. A method for feeding insects, comprising providing to insects a feed containing a gel, said gel comprising: a first polysaccharide being cassia gum, konjac gum and/or locust bean gum, a second polysaccharide different from the first polysaccharide, and at least 90 wt.-% water based on the total weight of the feed.

13. (canceled)

14. The feed according to claim 2, wherein the ratio of first polysaccharide:second polysaccharide is 10:90 to 90:10.

15. The feed according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of first polysaccharide:second polysaccharide is 20:80 to 80:20.

16. The feed according to claim 2, wherein the ratio of first polysaccharide:second polysaccharide is 20:80 to 80:20.

17. The feed according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of first polysaccharide:second polysaccharide 30:70 to 70:30.

18. The feed according to claim 2, wherein the ratio of first polysaccharide:second polysaccharide is 30:70 to 70:30.

19. The feed according to claim 1 further comprising a sugar.

20. The method according to claim 12, wherein the second polysaccharide is xanthan gum and/or carrageenan gum.

21. The method according to claim 12, wherein the ratio of first polysaccharide:second polysaccharide is 10:90 to 90:10.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0116] 1. General Procedure for Preparing an Insects' Feed

[0117] Table 1 describes the constituents of the insects' feed according to the invention and not according to the invention.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Constituents of the insects' feed according to the invention and not according to the invention. Entry 109 84 83 78 79 88 108 100 77 97 92* Ingredient 1 Xanthan gum Carrageenan gum Xanthan Carrageenan Xanthan Carrageenan Carrageenan Native gum gum gum gum gum starch Ingredient 2 Cassia gum Konjac Konjac Locust Konjac Cassia gum Konjac Cassia gum Cassia gum gum gum bean gum gum gum Ingredient 3 Dextrose Saccharose Dextrose Ingredient 4 KCl NaCl KCl KCl wt.-% 0.28 0.28 0.34 0.34 0.36 0.34 0.15 0.34 0.26 0.26 5.00 ingredient 1 wt.-% 0.28 0.28 0.09 0.09 0.16 0.09 0.34 0.09 0.60 0.60 ingredient 2 wt.-% 2.00 2.00 1.54 2.74 2.08 1.72 1.81 1.54 3.40 3.18 ingredient 3 wt.-% 0.24 0.24 0.18 0.34 0.36 0.15 0.18 0.26 ingredient 4 wt.-% 97.2 97.2 97.85 96.49 97.04 97.85 97.55 97.85 95.74 95.70 95 water *comparative

[0118] In the following, a general procedure for the preparation of an insects' feed with the constituents as described in Table 1 is provided. Each insects' feed was prepared in a total scale of 600 g. [0119] 1. Weigh and blend the powders of the recipe together with a spoon in a small cup. [0120] 2. In some cases, the water is heated in a pan until 60° C. roughly (thermostat 5 of the induction plate of the lab; this means the higher the integer of the thermostat, the higher the temperature of the pan is intended). In other cases the water is at room temperature.

TABLE-US-00002 60° C. solubilization Room temp. solubilization Trial no 109, 84, 83, 88, 100 92, 77, 78, 79, 97, 108 [0121] 3. The powders blend is introduced slowly in the water in the pan under stirring with a manual whisk. [0122] 4. The solution is stirred with the manual whisk during 1 minute (at room temperature or in hot condition thermostat 4 depending on trial). [0123] 5. The solution in the pan goes through a dispersing device (DI 25 from Ika) during 1 minutes (no heating maintained during this step), the speed is adjusted to get a good vortex (variable depending on the viscosity of the solution). [0124] 6. The solution in the pan is brought back to the induction plate and the thermostat is set to 8 until boiling starts, under stirring with the manual whisk. [0125] 7. When boiling starts, the thermostat is set to 4 and the boiling is maintained for 5 minutes, under stirring with the manual whisk. [0126] 8. The pan containing the whisk and solution is weighted and hot water is added to compensate the evaporation. [0127] 9. The solution is poured into 3 glass crystallizers until overflowing and into small plastic pots. [0128] 10. For the crystallizers, the solution is leveled with a plastic cover and covered with this same cover. [0129] 11. The covered crystallizers and uncovered plastic pots are cooled down at room temperatures about 2-3 hours. [0130] 12. The plastic pots are covered and both crystallizers and plastic pots are stored at 10° C. [0131] 13. The gel strength measurement is done the day after at 10° C. with the crystallizers and the syneresis is visually assessed in the plastic pots.

[0132] For trial 92, instead of steps 5-7 the solution was heated for 30 minutes using a bain marie while manually stirring.

[0133] 2. Measurement of Firmness and Cohesiveness of the Insects' Feed

[0134] In the following, a general procedure for the measurement of firmness and cohesiveness of the insects' feed is provided.

[0135] The equipment used is a Texture Analyser from Stable Micro Systems: TA.XT2. The software used is Exponent. The probe used is a cylinder.

The project set up is as below:

TABLE-US-00003 Caption Value Units Test Mode Compression Pre-Test Speed 1.00 mm/sec Test Speed 5.00 mm/sec Post-Test Speed 10.00 mm/sec Target Mode Distance Distance 30,000 mm Trigger Type Auto (Force) Trigger Force 5.0 g Break Mode Off Stop Plot At Start Position Tare Mode Auto Advanced Options On Control Oven Disabled Wait for Temperature Non Frame Deflection Correction Off (XT2 compatibility)

[0136] The steps to follow are: [0137] 1. Switch on the texture analyzer and computer [0138] 2. Open the software [0139] 3. Open the project (see characteristics above) [0140] 4. Calibrate the penetrometer via the software with the 2 kg weight [0141] 5. Take the first crystallizer out of the fridge, place it under the probe and launch the measurement [0142] 6. Repeat for the second and third crystallizers [0143] 7. Create the average of the three curves obtained with the software [0144] 8. With the cursor, pick up the value of the strength at 4 mm penetration (it is called the “firmness”) and at the peak (it is called the “cohesiveness”)

[0145] 3. Measuring of the Setting Temperature T.sub.gel of the Insects' Feed

[0146] In the following, a general procedure for the measurement of the T.sub.gel or setting temperature of the insects' feed is provided. Each insects' feed was prepared in a total scale of 100 g.

[0147] The equipment used is a RVA 4500 (Rapid Visco Analyser) from Perten. It is coupled to a recirculating chiller (Accel 250 LC from ThermoFisher scientific).

[0148] The software managing the equipment is TCW3 (ThermoCline for Windows).

The test characteristics are as below:

TABLE-US-00004 Time (hh:mm:ss) Type of function Value 00:00:00 Temperature 20 00:00:00 Speed 960 00:00:12 Speed 160 00:00:30 Temperature 20 00:05:10 Temperature 95 00:15:10 Temperature 95 00:31:30 Temperature 10 00:50:00 End

Tolerance (±° C.): 1

[0149] Sampling period: 4
The steps to follow are: [0150] 1. Switch on the RVA, recirculating chiller and computer. [0151] 2. Open TCW3. [0152] 3. Calibrate the RVA with the paddle alone at speed 160 until stability of the measurement. [0153] 4. Open the test (see characteristics above). [0154] 5. Weight the water into a 250 ml beaker. [0155] 6. Put the water under stirring with an Ika stirrer, Kelco blade, at 800 rpm. [0156] 7. Blend all the powders of the recipe in a small cup and add the blend slowly into the water. [0157] 8. Check that there is no powder stuck to the blade. [0158] 9. Maintain stirring for 10 minutes. [0159] 10. Fill the RVA cup with 20 g of this solution. [0160] 11. Insert the RVA cup inside the RVA equipment. [0161] 12. The measurement starts by itself. [0162] 13. Once the measurement is done, with the cursor, pick up the temperature when the viscosity starts to increase (starts of gelification).

[0163] 4. Measuring of the Syneresis of the Insects' Feed

[0164] Syneresis describes the extraction or expulsion of a liquid from a gel. Syneresis of the insects' feed are measured by visual observation.

[0165] By visual observation, the gels of the insects' feed are classified as none (no syneresis) and + to ++++ (wherein + means less syneresis and ++++ means more syneresis).

[0166] 5. Results of the Measurement of Firmness, Cohesiveness, Setting Temperature (T.sub.gel) and Syneresis

[0167] In the following, the results of the measurement of firmness, cohesiveness, setting temperature (T.sub.gel) and syneresis of the above-described gels according to Table 1 are provided in Table 2.

[0168] As can be seen in Table 2, all insects' feed according to the invention provided an optimal mixture of the key characteristics having a good firmness and cohesiveness as well as an optimal setting temperature or T.sub.gel and showed no syneresis.

[0169] In contrast to the insects' feed according to the present invention, the comparative Example 92 not according to the invention showed low firmness and lower cohesiveness compared to the insects' feed according to the present invention.

TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 2 results of the measurement of firmness, cohesiveness, setting temperature (T.sub.gel) and syneresis Entry 109 84 83 78 79 88 108 100 77 97 92* Firmness (g) 21 26 24 1293 741 24 496 26 342 1225 24 Cohesiveness (g) 1811 1737 2244 1757 983 2017 1854 2380 1468 3444 77 Setting 52 52 42 43 43 36 32 43 13 40 N/A temperature (° C.) Syneresis None None None None None None + None + None None *comparative