The mealworm, commonly known as the breadworm, is found in almost every country in the world.Yellow mealworms are the most ideal feed insects for artificial farming. So what are the market of mealworms values?
Feeding value of mealworms
The traditional application of meal worm is mainly used for special breeding. It replaces fish bone meal and meat bone meal as protein feed for raising mealybugs, scorpions, money turtles, ornamental fish, birds, frogs and some other special economic animals with high economic value.
The molts and adult shells of mealworms can be used to extract chitin and produce chitosan.It can also be used as feed additives for general livestock and poultry, which can improve the yield and quality of products.
The edible value of mealworms
The meal worm is rich in protein, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.It’s content of protein is much higher than eggs, beef, lamb and other conventional animal foods. mealworm is an excellent protein food,with its characteristics of easy digestion and absorption.
Mealworms can be used in the following foods :
- Prototype food and bread
- Used as seasoning powder to make various instant noodle seasonings
- Small food such as moon cakes, crispy rice, biscuits and so on
- Made into “Chinese shrimp paste”
- Various dishes
- Nutritional health wine
In conclusion, mealworms have good taste, unique flavor and are easily accepted by consumers.It can be fried, baked, refined into protein powders and alcoholic beverages, processed into protein drinks containing nutty flavors, and other forms of food.
The environmental value of mealworms
In addition to its nutritional value, mealworms also have environmental value.The meal worm has the ability of overbelly transformation,and it can transform various vegetable tailings and fruit waste into worm protein. Meanwhile, we can use its manure as organic fertilizer for hydroponic vegetable cultivation.
Meal worm can also swallow and completely degrade plastic. 100 mealworms can eat 34 to 39 milligrams of Styrofoam per day. yellow meal worms use their intestinal flora to convert half of the plastic they eat into carbon dioxide and the other half into biodegradable pellets similar to rabbit feces that are excreted out of the body.
