Snake Meat Next on the Menu?
An article in Scientific American discusses how python meat may be a good alternative for meat eaters due to the efficiency of protein conversion.
"The researchers fed the pythons a variety of diets, including thawed frozen chicken, wild-caught rodents, fishmeal, chicken pellets and waste products from pork production. Roughly a quarter of the food ingested by the snakes was converted to meat, regardless of which diet they were fed, and 82% of the snakes' body mass was edible meat by the end of the experiment. For comparison, the meat harvested from cattle generally amounts to about 63% of a cow's weight."
Lots of issues with this concept though. For one, being a snake farmer ain't no easy task. "Jim, have you seen Friskers the barn cat? Jim....Jim...where are you, I thought I left you in the snake barn?"
Discerning Insect Eaters - The Flavors of Different Ant Species
Evidently, different species of ants have different flavors. For example, "Weaver ants were characterized as having a nutty, sweet and caramel-like aroma caused by the presence of various pyrazines and pyrroles, but the researchers also detected hay and urine-like off-flavors likely due to high concentrations of amines."
What wine do you pair to complement that urine-life off-flavor?
Scientific Amerian
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/snake-steak-could-be-a-climate-friendly-source-of-protein
Snake Steak Could Be a Climate-Friendly Source of Protein
Scientific Amerian
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/snake-steak-could-be-a-climate-friendly-source-of-protein
Snake Steak Could Be a Climate-Friendly Source of Protein
Pythons turn their food into meat pretty efficiently, a study finds, making them an intriguing alternative to climate-unfriendly cows
MARCH 14, 2024Put aside your chicken cutlets and meatloaf and say hello to python curries and satay skewers. Some snake scientists think eating these reptiles—already customary or at least acceptable in parts of the world—might help lessen the damage our food choices have on the environment.
With some eight billion people on the planet today, all of whom require protein to stay healthy, finding new sources of these nutrients is a crucial issue. “The general conundrum we somehow need to solve is: Where do we get the appropriate amounts of protein for a still-growing global population without the big environmental footprint?” says Monika Zurek, a food systems scientist at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the new research. Humans’ dietary staples, particularly those of Westerners, have serious consequences. The environmental impacts of cattle products such as beef are especially costly: the animals produce nearly 10 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and growing food for them spurs deforestation. Pork brings a separate set of environmental hazards, notably water pollution from pig waste. The chicken industry faces similar issues.
With some eight billion people on the planet today, all of whom require protein to stay healthy, finding new sources of these nutrients is a crucial issue. “The general conundrum we somehow need to solve is: Where do we get the appropriate amounts of protein for a still-growing global population without the big environmental footprint?” says Monika Zurek, a food systems scientist at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the new research. Humans’ dietary staples, particularly those of Westerners, have serious consequences. The environmental impacts of cattle products such as beef are especially costly: the animals produce nearly 10 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and growing food for them spurs deforestation. Pork brings a separate set of environmental hazards, notably water pollution from pig waste. The chicken industry faces similar issues.
But how do you get from the challenge of providing sufficient protein to farming pythons for meat? For Dan Natusch, a herpetologist at Macquarie University in Australia, the idea came about tangentially. He and his colleagues were working with existing commercial python farms in Vietnam and Thailand to determine whether they could distinguish wild-bred snakes from captive-bred ones. During the study, the researchers noticed the farmed pythons’ propensity for speedy growth, which they’ve documented in research published in Scientific Reports on March 14.
“As snake biologists, we already knew that pythons had impressive physiologies,” Natusch says. “After speaking with the python farmers and continuing to monitor their growth rates, their remarkable physiologies became even more apparent.”
Part of the explanation boils down to biology. Pythons, like all snakes, are ectotherms, or cold-blooded animals, which means their body temperature is controlled by their surroundings. This lifestyle makes snakes prone to sunbathing, but it also means that, unlike mammals, ectotherms don’t need to produce heat to keep themselves warm—a major source of energy savings that allows them to efficiently convert food into body mass.
Natusch and his colleagues decided to quantify that efficiency. The team studied reticulated pythons (Malayopython reticulatus) and Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) on the farms, analyzing what they ate and how quickly they grew.
In particular, the researchers were struck by the pythons’ resilience during long fasts: the animals sometimes went months without eating but also without losing much weight. “Observing the ability of relatively young snakes to go many months without food and remain in a healthy state with minimal loss of body condition was really astounding,” Natusch says. Notably, he and his colleagues think that such resilience could be valuable during a major disruption to the food system, such as what occurred during the early days of the COVID pandemic, when some farmers couldn’t afford to keep feeding their livestock but also couldn’t get them to processors.
“Because we expect even greater global economic and climatic volatility in [the] future, pythons could be a solution for those future challenges,” Natusch says. “Farming pythons could be a big part of the solution for a part of the world that is already suffering from severe protein deficiency,” such as Africa.
“As snake biologists, we already knew that pythons had impressive physiologies,” Natusch says. “After speaking with the python farmers and continuing to monitor their growth rates, their remarkable physiologies became even more apparent.”
Part of the explanation boils down to biology. Pythons, like all snakes, are ectotherms, or cold-blooded animals, which means their body temperature is controlled by their surroundings. This lifestyle makes snakes prone to sunbathing, but it also means that, unlike mammals, ectotherms don’t need to produce heat to keep themselves warm—a major source of energy savings that allows them to efficiently convert food into body mass.
Natusch and his colleagues decided to quantify that efficiency. The team studied reticulated pythons (Malayopython reticulatus) and Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) on the farms, analyzing what they ate and how quickly they grew.
In particular, the researchers were struck by the pythons’ resilience during long fasts: the animals sometimes went months without eating but also without losing much weight. “Observing the ability of relatively young snakes to go many months without food and remain in a healthy state with minimal loss of body condition was really astounding,” Natusch says. Notably, he and his colleagues think that such resilience could be valuable during a major disruption to the food system, such as what occurred during the early days of the COVID pandemic, when some farmers couldn’t afford to keep feeding their livestock but also couldn’t get them to processors.
“Because we expect even greater global economic and climatic volatility in [the] future, pythons could be a solution for those future challenges,” Natusch says. “Farming pythons could be a big part of the solution for a part of the world that is already suffering from severe protein deficiency,” such as Africa.
https://www.livescience.com/animals/snakes/what-does-python-taste-like-because-it-could-be-slithering-onto-our-dinner-plates
What does python taste like? Because it could be slithering onto our dinner plates.
News
By Sascha Pare published March 15, 2024
A study conducted on two snake farms has found that breeding pythons for meat is more energy and resource-efficient than current livestock production, offering a viable protein alternative.
Python meat is a low-effort and sustainable protein alternative that could soon slither onto our dinner plates, scientists suggest.
The researchers argue there are a plethora of benefits to farming pythons, including the snakes' ability to fast for extended periods of time, their low space and water requirements and minimal waste production.
Due to their large body size and fast growth rates — and without legs or wings to worry about — pythons are a highly efficient source of meat. The scientists published their findings Thursday (March 14) in the journal Scientific Reports.
"These animals are extremely good converters of food and particularly protein," study co-author Patrick Aust, a zoologist and research associate at the University of Oxford in the U.K., told ABC News. "Literally, they are specialists [at] making the most of very little."
Python farming is well-established in Asia but is yet to take off in other regions, according to the study. With current livestock production systems struggling to meet sustainability standards and growing demand, however, it may be time to consider alternatives.
Related: Enormous Burmese python killed in Florida Everglades was about to lay 60 eggs
"Over the last two decades, snake farming has expanded," the authors wrote in the study. "Reptile meat is not unlike chicken: high in protein, low in saturated fats, and with widespread aesthetic and culinary appeal."
The researchers monitored the growth rates of newborn Burmese (Python bivittatus) and reticulated (Malayopython reticulatus) pythons at two farms — one in Thailand's Uttaradit province and the other in Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam. Despite receiving food only once per week, both species grew rapidly and put on up to 1.6 ounces (46 grams) per day over a period of 12 months — by which time they can be slaughtered for meat, skins and other products. Female pythons grew larger than males, likely due to natural sex differences.
The researchers fed the pythons a variety of diets, including thawed frozen chicken, wild-caught rodents, fishmeal, chicken pellets and waste products from pork production.
Roughly a quarter of the food ingested by the snakes was converted to meat, regardless of which diet they were fed, and 82% of the snakes' body mass was edible meat by the end of the experiment. For comparison, the meat harvested from cattle generally amounts to about 63% of a cow's weight.
"In terms of food and protein conversion ratios, pythons outperform all mainstream agricultural species studied to date," the researchers wrote in the study. "Production efficiencies for pythons were higher than those reported for poultry, pork, beef, salmon, and crickets."
Pythons also maintained their body mass during periods of fasting that lasted as long as 127 consecutive days thanks to their flexible metabolism. Adult Burmese and reticulated pythons can weigh more than 220 pounds (100 kilograms) and females can produce up to 100 eggs per year, meaning they are "well suited for commercial production," according to the study.
The researchers highlighted the potential role of python farming in controlling rodent pests and upcycling waste products from other meat industries and agri-food supply chains, if the snakes are fed a diet rich in rodents and waste protein.
The only remaining hurdle to putting python meat on dinner plates is a limited understanding of how to keep thousands of these snakes in captivity, the authors wrote — that, and "the general fear humans have toward snakes."
The many flavors of edible ants
PressPacs March 17, 2024
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW ORLEANS, March 17, 2024 — Insects are typically unwelcome visitors to a picnic, but they could be a flavorful, nutritious and sustainable addition to the menu. Eating insects is common in some parts of the world, and some species are even considered delicacies. Ants are one example, sometimes roasted whole for a snack or ground and used to add flavor and texture to dishes. Researchers now report the unique aroma profiles of four species of edible ants, which taste markedly different from one another.
The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2024 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in person March 17-21; it features nearly 12,000 presentations on a range of science topics.
“I'm interested in ants because I once led a summer field study in Oaxaca, Mexico,” says Changqi Liu, an associate professor of food science. “You can easily find different edible insects in the market there, just like other food ingredients.”
There have been few prior studies on the flavors of edible insects. But understanding flavor profiles could help the food industry formulate products with these readily available species. “If there are desirable flavors, scientists can investigate ways to promote their formation, and if there are undesirable flavors, they can find ways to eliminate or mask these odors,” says Liu.
A plate of cocktail shrimp seasoned with common black ant.
The common black ant has a sour flavor that can be used in place of lemon juice.
Changqi Liu
To better understand which compounds contribute to the flavors of edible ants, Liu and his team at San Diego State University analyzed the odor profiles of four species: the chicatana ant, common black ant, spiny ant and weaver ant.
The researchers identified the volatile compounds present in samples from each species, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and matched them to odors sensed using an olfactometer. They were puzzled by some volatiles for which they were unable to sense an odor; the team later figured out those chemicals were ant pheromones. Even at high concentrations, humans aren’t able to smell the alkanes that ants use as chemical messengers. But they were able to identify other noticeable odors that contribute to the flavor of these ant species.
The team found that common black ants have an acidic and vinegary smell, primarily because of their high content of formic acid, which is a compound the ants secrete from venom glands. The researchers also detected the presence of large alkanes the ants use as alarm pheromones.
Unlike common black ants, the chicatana ants tested did not contain formic acid, and their predominant smell was nutty, woody and fatty. The researchers attributed fatty, grassy odors to the presence of aldehydes. They say the nutty, roasted smell comes from pyrazines, compounds also produced when meats and bread are cooked. Chicatana ants use a type of pyrazine as a trail pheromone.
Weaver ants were characterized as having a nutty, sweet and caramel-like aroma caused by the presence of various pyrazines and pyrroles, but the researchers also detected hay and urine-like off-flavors likely due to high concentrations of amines.
The team also analyzed the composition of ants at various developmental stages. They compared adult spiny ants to the same species in the pupa stage. Like common black ants, the adult spiny ants contained formic acid. In contrast, the pupa did not contain formic acid, because venom glands grow as they mature.
Next, Liu and his team hope to further investigate the flavor profiles of more ant species and developmental stages like ant eggs, which are considered a delicacy in some countries. So far, the team has only analyzed female chicatana ants, known as queens, but they would like to compare the flavor profile to male ants, or drones, of the same species. The researchers would also like to investigate how different processing affects the flavor of these insects and to conduct sensory evaluations with a human panel.
Edible insects can be delicious alternatives to animal proteins, but people with food allergies should be cautious. Tropomyosin, a muscle protein, is a common allergen responsible for crustacean and shellfish allergies and is highly conserved across many invertebrate species. So, people with a sensitivity to crustacean shellfish may experience similar reactions to insects. Also, while edible insect production produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than traditional animal farming, prices are high because large-scale farming of insects is still new. And consumer acceptance in some countries is a challenge for the food industry.
Nevertheless, Liu believes insects could be a great addition to the menu. “They can have very diverse and interesting flavor profiles. And that really increases the culinary possibilities of using these insects to create delicious food,” he says. Telling people about the edible insects’ nutritional and environmental benefits promotes people’s willingness to consume them, he adds. “But I don't want people to feel that they are making a sacrifice by eating these insects. I want to show that they can actually taste very good, while being nutritious and good for the environment.”
The common black ant has a sour flavor that can be used in place of lemon juice.
Chicatana ants have a nutty, fatty flavor and are commonly consumed in parts of Mexico to add texture and flavor to dishes and sauces
Weaver ants were characterized as having a nutty, sweet and caramel-like aroma caused by the presence of various pyrazines and pyrroles, but the researchers also detected hay and urine-like off-flavors likely due to high concentrations of amines.
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