Novel ingredients in pet food - Investigate the palatability, digestibility, and health effects of the inclusion of a yellow mealworm fraction in pet food for cats

• Grant number: 25/10590-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Thiago Henrique Annibale Vendramini
• Grantee: Gabriela Luiza Fagundes Finardi
• Supervisor: Myriam Hesta
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Ghent University (UGent), Belgium
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/19916-0 - Assessment of the effects of increasing levels of plant-based choline inclusion on extrusion variables, digestive, hepatic, fermentative, fecal microbiota, serum metabolomics, and palatability in adult dogs, BP.MS

Abstract

Alternative pet diets have become more popular in recent years, driven by concerns over sustainability and environmental effects. One potential solution is the incorporation of edible insects into pet food. Yellow mealworm larvae (YML) have emerged as a particularly promising ingredient in this context. This study aimed to investigate the palatability, digestibility, and health effects of the inclusion of YMW fraction in pet food for cats. Ten cats will be randomly assigned to one of two dietary groups (control or test) and will switch to the alternate diet in the second period, ensuring that all subjects receive both treatments under standardized and controlled conditions. Control and test diet were and isocaloric/isonitrogenous and produced to be complete and balanced following FEDIAF guidelines. The experimental trial will follow a crossover design consisting of two periods of 28 days each, preceded by a 28-day pre-adaptation phase using the control diet. During the trial, blood collection and fresh feces sampling will be performed for hematology, biochemistry, fermentation parameters, metabolome, lipidome and microbiome. The blood and fecal metabolomics/lipidomics will involve targeted and untargeted metabolic fingerprinting using 2D-ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (2D-UHPLC-HRMS). Additionally, DNA will be extracted for high-throughput sequencing (Illumina MiSeq pyrosequencing) to determine gut microbiome composition.