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Insects hold enormous potential to address food and nutritional security issues. The honey bee is a key insect, given its importance for pollination, as well as its products which can be directly consumed, like honey, pollen and brood. Research on edible insects is an emerging field that draws upon methods and techniques from related fields of research. In this paper, we provide recommendations and research protocols centered on production of worker and drone brood for human consumption, on brood harvesting, including hygienic considerations, on nutritional aspects of brood, on sensory analyses of brood and brood products and on the gastronomic applications of honey bee brood; all of which will help elucidate the edible potential of honey bee brood now, and in the future.Mé todos estándar para el uso de la cría de Apis mellifera como alimento humano Los insectos tienen un enorme potencial para abordar cuestiones de seguridad alimentaria y nutricional. La abeja de la miel es un insecto clave, dada su importancia para la polinizació n, así como por sus productos que pueden consumirse directamente, como la miel, el polen y la cría. La investigació n sobre insectos comestibles es un campo emergente que se basa en métodos y técnicas de campos de investigació n relacionados. En este documento, proporcionamos recomendaciones y protocolos de investigació n centrados en la producció n de obreras y en la cría de zánganos para el consumo humano, sobre la producció n de cría, incluyendo consideraciones sobre la higiene, en los aspectos nutricionales de la cría, en los análisis sensoriales de la cría y los productos de la cría y en las aplicaciones gastronó micas de la cría de la abeja de la miel, todo lo cual ayudará a dilucidar el potencial comestible de la cría de las abejas de la miel, ahora y en el futuro.

Plant galls are abnormal growths caused by an inducer that determines their morphology and anatomy. We qualitatively and quantitatively compared the histological anatomy of five aphid species (Paracletus cimiciformis, Forda marginata, Forda formicaria, Baizongia pistaciae and Geoica wertheimae) that induce galls in Pistacia terebinthus shrubs growing in Israel. We also quantitatively compared these galls to those that the aphids create on the same host in Spain. Histological study was conducted following methods described previously by the authors. Quantitative differences among the galls were found in five of 12 common anatomical traits: gall thickness, stomatal number in the epidermis-air, size of vascular bundles, distance of phloem ducts from the lumen and number of intraphloematic schizogenous ducts. Other structures were particular to one or some species: number of cracks in the epidermis-lumen, a sclereid layer, trichomes and microcrystal inclusions. Fisher's tests of combined probabilities showed that the galls induced in Israel were statistically different from those in Spain. In particular, the number of intraphloematic schizogenous ducts was higher in the galls induced in P. terebinthus in Israel. Such differences were also found in other traits related to defence of the gall inhabitant. In conclusion, while the gall shape and size are determined mainly by the cecidogenic insect, it seems that the host plant also plays an important role in determining the number/size of quantitative traits, in this case mainly protective structures.

The impact of parasites on the nutritional value of their hosts may be an important issue that has to be studied in considering insects as future food and feed for humans and animals. The ectoparasite Varroa mite (Varroa destructor) was chosen as an experimental model: it affects bee colonies and largely endangers the honey production. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) brood is largely used as human food in tropical regions and has a great potential to become a future source of proteins and other nutritional and health components, in particular because beekeeping is based on deep knowledge and well developed technologies in great parts of the world. The impact of infestation of Varroa on the nutritive qualities of honey bee brood is barely known. We compared the main components of infested and parasite free pupae, harvested from the same colonies. We found that Varroa mites decreased the mean fresh weight from 124±6.9 to 118±4.1 mg (mean ± standard deviation), elevated the intensity of one protein band (50.2 KDa) among nine and enhanced the superoxide dismutase activity from 9.5±0.3 to 14.6±0.2% but not catalase and peroxidase activity. The parasite did not change the dry weight percentage (19.5±1.9%), total lipid titration (16.9±2.3%), crude protein (57.2±6.1%) and cholesterol levels (6.7±1.3 mg/100 g fresh weight). The fatty acid composition and their proportions were not altered either, among them three very important unsaturated fatty acids (FAs): omega-3, omega-6 and oleic acid/omega-9. Long chained FAs were detected in small quantities, less than 1%. The total antioxidant activity remained the same as of not-infested pupae. In conclusion, the impact of Varroa mites on the nutritional value of honey bee pupae could be considered as minor.

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