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Insect-based Pet Food
Insect-based pet food is pet food consisting of, or containing insects digestible by pets such as dogs or cats. A limited, but growing number of products are available on the market, including insect-based cat food, dog food, and pet treats. The process of consuming insects by animals (as well as humans) is called ''entomophagy''. Background and potential There are many benefits to using insects in pet goods, including implications for the environment and sustainability. There is potential for growth in the pet food industry, with many insect species having the ability to be used as a novel protein source. There are also alternate uses for insects, such as control of hypertension and antioxidant properties. Environment and sustainability As global populations rise, food demand is becoming an increasingly important issue. Raising conventional livestock requires resources such as land and water, of which availability is concurrently decreasing. As a result, the ability to meet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pet Food
Pet food is animal feed intended for consumption by pets. Typically sold in pet stores and supermarkets, it is usually specific to the type of animal, such as dog food or cat food. Most meat used for animals is a byproduct of the human food industry, and is not regarded as "human grade".Hickman, LeoBritain's problem with pets ''The Guardian'', November 13, 2009. Examples of foods for pets would be canned foods and dry mix. Pet food production has environmental, Land use, land-use and climate change impacts. In 2019, the world pet food market was valued at US$87.09 billion and is projected to grow to US$113.2 billion by the year 2024. The pet food market is dominated by five major companies, as of 2020: Mars, Incorporated, Mars, Inc., Nestlé Purina PetCare, Nestle Purina Petcare, The J.M. Smucker Company, J. M. Smucker, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc. (owned by Colgate-Palmolive), and Blue Buffalo Co. Ltd (owned by General Mills). Industry In the United States, pet-food sales in 201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Methionine
Methionine (symbol Met or M) () is an essential amino acid in humans. As the precursor of other non-essential amino acids such as cysteine and taurine, versatile compounds such as SAM-e, and the important antioxidant glutathione, methionine plays a critical role in the metabolism and health of many species, including humans. Methionine is also involved in angiogenesis and various processes related to DNA transcription, epigenetic expression, and gene regulation. Methionine was first isolated in 1921 by John Howard Mueller. It is Genetic code, encoded by the codon AUG. It was named by Satoru Odake in 1925, as an abbreviation of its structural description 2-amino-4-(methylthio)butanoic acid. Biochemical details Methionine (abbreviated as Met or M; encoded by the codon AUG) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains a carboxyl group (which is in the deprotonated −COO− form under biological pH conditions), an amino group (which is in the proton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; ) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. The agency is responsible to the Minister of Health. The agency was created in April 1997 by the ''Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act'' for the purpose of consolidating the delivery of all federal food safety, animal health, and plant health regulatory programs in Canada. As such, the CFIA was established by combining and integrating the related inspection services of three separate federal government departments: * Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, * Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and * Health Canada. Role and responsibilities The agency is part of the larger federal public service. According to the CFIA statement of values, science is the basis for regulatory decisions, though the need to consider other factors is recognized. Through t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Soldier Fly
''Hermetia illucens'', the black soldier fly, is a common and widespread fly of the family Stratiomyidae. Since the late 20th century, ''H. illucens'' has increasingly been gaining attention because of its usefulness for recycling organic waste and generating animal feed. Distribution This species is native to the Neotropical realm, but in recent decades has spread across all continents, becoming virtually cosmopolitan. It is present in parts of North America and Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, Italy, Croatia, Malta, the Canary Islands, and Switzerland, and on the Black Sea coast of Russia in Krasnodar . It can also be found in the Afrotropical realm, the Australasian realm, the east Palaearctic realm, the Nearctic realm, North Africa, Southern Africa, and the Indomalayan realm. Description The adults of ''H. illucens'' measure about long. These medium-sized flies have a predominantly black body, with metallic reflections ranging from b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Harvester Ant
''Pogonomyrmex occidentalis'', or the western harvester ant, is a species of ant that inhabits the deserts and arid grasslands of the American West at or below . Like other harvester ants in the genus ''Pogonomyrmex'', it is so called because of its habit of collecting edible seeds and other food items. The specific epithet "''occidentalis''", meaning "of the west", refers to the fact that it is characteristic of the interior of the Western United States; its mounds of gravel, surrounded by areas denuded of plant life, are a conspicuous feature of rangeland. When numerous, they may cause such loss of grazing plants and seeds, as to constitute both a severe ecological and economic burden. They have a painful and venomous sting.Capinera, John L. Encyclopedia of Entomology. Publisher: Springer 2008. Colonies Mature colonies consist of up to 20,000 workers and one queen. A queen can live up to 30 years, and many colonies survive for 20 years. A colony inhabits a nest that is up to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flesh Fly
Sarcophagidae () are a family (biology), family of fly, flies commonly known as flesh flies. They differ from most flies in that they are Ovoviviparity, ovoviviparous, opportunistically depositing hatched or hatching maggots instead of eggs on carrion, dung, decaying material, or open wounds of mammals, hence their common name. Some flesh fly larvae are internal parasitism, parasites of other insects such as Orthoptera, and some, in particular the Miltogramminae, are kleptoparasites of solitary Hymenoptera. The adults mostly feed on fluids from animal bodies, nectar, sweet foods, fluids from animal waste and other organic substances. Juveniles need protein to develop and may be laid on carrion, dung or sweet plant foods (including fruit, nuts, and artificial foodstuffs). Diagnostic characteristics Members of the subfamily Sarcophaginae are small to large flies with black and gray longitudinal stripes on the Thorax (insect anatomy), thorax and checkering on the abdomen. Other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Cockroach
The American cockroach (''Periplaneta americana'') is the largest species of common cockroach, and often considered a pest. In certain regions of the U.S. it is colloquially known as the waterbug, though it is not a true waterbug since it is not aquatic. It is also known as the ship cockroach, kakerlac, and Bombay canary. It is often misidentified as a palmetto bug. Despite their name, American cockroaches are native to Africa and the Middle East. They are believed to have been introduced to the Americas only from the 17th century onward as a result of human commercial patterns, including the Atlantic slave trade. Distribution Despite the name, none of the ''Periplaneta'' species is native to the Americas; ''P. americana'' was introduced to what is now the United States from Africa as early as 1625. They are now common in tropical climates because human activity has extended the insects' range of habitation, and are virtually cosmopolitan in distribution as a result of globa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyruvate
Pyruvic acid (CH3COCOOH) is the simplest of the alpha-keto acids, with a carboxylic acid and a ketone functional group. Pyruvate, the conjugate base, CH3COCOO−, is an intermediate in several metabolic pathways throughout the cell. Pyruvic acid can be made from glucose through glycolysis, converted back to carbohydrates (such as glucose) via gluconeogenesis, or converted to fatty acids through a reaction with acetyl-CoA. It can also be used to construct the amino acid alanine and can be converted into ethanol or lactic acid via fermentation. Pyruvic acid supplies energy to cells through the citric acid cycle (also known as the Krebs cycle) when oxygen is present ( aerobic respiration), and alternatively ferments to produce lactate when oxygen is lacking. Chemistry In 1834, Théophile-Jules Pelouze distilled tartaric acid and isolated glutaric acid and another unknown organic acid. Jöns Jacob Berzelius characterized this other acid the following year and na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cysteine Dioxygenase
Cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) is a non-heme iron enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of L-cysteine to cysteine sulfinic acid (cysteine sulfinate). CDO plays an important role in cysteine catabolism, regulating intracellular levels of cysteine and responding changes in cysteine availability. As such, CDO is highly regulated and undergoes large changes in concentration and efficiency. It oxidizes cysteine to the corresponding sulfinic acid by activation of dioxygen, although the exact mechanism of the reaction is still unclear. In addition to being found in mammals, CDO also exists in some yeast and bacteria, although the exact function is still unknown. CDO has been implicated in various Neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative diseases and cancers, which is likely related to cysteine toxicity. Function CDO is responsible for the first major step in metabolism of cysteine. CDO oxidizes to cysteine sulfinic acid (which exists predominantly in the anionic sulfinate form ''in vivo''). Over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taurine
Taurine (), or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is a naturally occurring amino sulfonic acid that is widely distributed in animal tissues. It is a major constituent of bile and can be found in the large intestine. It is named after Latin (cognate to Ancient Greek , ) meaning bull or ox, as it was first isolated from ox bile in 1827 by German scientists Friedrich Tiedemann and Leopold Gmelin. It was identified in human bile in 1846 by Edmund Ronalds. Although taurine is abundant in human organs, it is not an essential human dietary nutrient and is not included among nutrients with a recommended intake level. Among the diverse pathways by which natural taurine can be biosynthesized, its human pathways (primarily in the human liver) are from cysteine and/or methionine. Taurine is commonly sold as a dietary supplement, but there is no good clinical evidence that taurine supplements provide any benefit to human health. Taurine is used as a food additive for cats (who require ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carnivore
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ... whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by eating, consumption of animal tissue (biology), tissues (mainly muscle, adipose tissue, fat and other soft tissues) as food, whether through predation or scavenger, scavenging. Nomenclature Mammal order The technical term for mammals in the order (biology), order Carnivora is ''carnivoran'', and they are so-named because most member species in the group have a carnivorous diet, but the similarity of the name of the order and the name of the diet causes confusion. Many but not all carnivorans are meat eaters; a few, such as the fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valine
Valine (symbol Val or V) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an α- amino group (which is in the protonated −NH3+ form under biological conditions), an α- carboxylic acid group (which is in the deprotonated −COO− form under biological conditions), and a side chain isopropyl group, making it a non-polar aliphatic amino acid. Valine is essential in humans, meaning the body cannot synthesize it; it must be obtained from dietary sources which are foods that contain proteins, such as meats, dairy products, soy products, beans and legumes. It is encoded by all codons starting with GU (GUU, GUC, GUA, and GUG). History and etymology Valine was first isolated from casein in 1901 by Hermann Emil Fischer. The name valine comes from its structural similarity to valeric acid, which in turn is named after the plant valerian due to the presence of the acid in the roots of the plant. Nomenclature According to IUPAC, carbon atoms forming v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
