Quality Characteristics According to Post-Harvest Processing of Protaetia brevitarsis Larvae

Key Points

• The research aims to identify the impact of different post-harvest processing techniques on the microbial and quality characteristics of Protaetia brevitarsis larvae.
• Compared ultrasonic cleaning and air bubble washing for cleaning processes.
• Conducted blanching at 100°C for 1 minute.
• Evaluated drying methods including hot air, vacuum, dew point control, and freeze drying.
• Measured microbial levels and color characteristics after processing.
• Blanching reduced total bacterial counts by approximately 4 log CFU/g.
• E. coli was undetectable (<1 log CFU/g) after blanching.
• Freeze drying and vacuum drying resulted in the lowest microbial levels.
• Color measurement showed freeze drying yielded the lowest browning index (7.50±0.12 to 13.98±0.09).
• Hot air and dew point drying resulted in high shrinkage rates (27-39%), while freeze drying maintained circular structure with ~10% shrinkage.

Abstract