Polyphenol-Enriched Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Hermetia illucens) Meal Improves Lipid Quality and Delays Oxidative Deterioration of Refrigerated Broiler Breast Meat
by
, , , , and
Mustapha Kamel Fodil
1, 
Amine Ghelamallah
1,
Said Dahmouni
1,
Zineb Bengharbi
1,
Abdenour Benguendouz
1
,
Djilali Benabdelmoumene
1,
Wasim S. M. Qadi
2,
Ahmed Mediani
2,
Anna Kopsacheili
3,
Konstantina Papastavropoulou
3,
Theodoros Varzakas
4,*
and
Charalampos Proestos
3,*
1
Applied Animal Physiology Lab, Abdelhamid Ibn Badis University, Mostaganem 27000, Algeria
2
Institute of Systems Biology (INBIOSIS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
3
Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
4
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of the Peloponnese, 24100 Kalamata, Greece
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Insects 2026, 17(9), 961; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects17090961
Submission received: 30 July 2026
/
Revised: 12 September 2026
/
Accepted: 14 September 2026
/
Published: 16 September 2026
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects as Functional Food Ingredients)
Simple Summary
Black soldier fly larvae are increasingly used as an alternative ingredient in poultry feed, but their nutritional value can change depending on what the larvae are fed and how the resulting meal is processed. This study examined whether rearing the larvae on a mixture containing olive leaves and spent tea residues could improve the quality of the larvae meal and, in turn, affect chicken growth and breast meat quality. When the BSFL meal produced from larvae reared on olive leaves and spent tea residues and the standard full-fat BSFL meal were both included at 10% of the diet, the former was associated with better growth efficiency, improved meat color, lower water losses during storage and cooking, and a more favorable fat composition. It was also associated with slower deterioration of meat fats and proteins during refrigerated storage and with lower formation of compounds linked to oxidation. These findings suggest that olive leaves and spent tea residues could be useful for producing black soldier fly larvae meal with added nutritional value while also supporting the reuse of food and agricultural by-products.
Abstract
This study investigated whether black soldier fly larvae meal (BSFL; Hermetia illucens L.) produced on polyphenol-rich agro-industrial by-products could enhance broiler meat lipid quality and oxidative stability during refrigerated storage. A total of 200 one-day-old Arbor Acres broilers were allocated to five dietary treatments: control diet, 5% standard full-fat BSFL meal, 10% standard full-fat BSFL meal, 10% full-fat BSFL meals produced on olive leaf and spent tea residues, and 10% defatted BSFL meal. Compared with standard full-fat BSFL meal, the olive leaf–spent tea BSFL meal showed markedly higher total phenolic content (6.74 vs. 1.82 mg GAE/g DM), DPPH radical-scavenging activity (54.80 vs. 22.40%) and ABTS antioxidant capacity (38.20 vs. 15.60 umol TE/g DM), together with lower peroxide value (1.46 vs. 2.38 meq O2/kg lipid) and TBARS (0.24 vs. 0.39 mg MDA/kg meal). Also, when compared with 10% standard full-fat BSFL meal, the olive leaf–spent tea BSFL meal improved final body weight (2592.8 vs. 2511.6 g) and feed conversion ratio (1.53 vs. 1.58). Breast meat from this group contained higher oleic acid (40.52 vs. 37.48%) and a-linolenic acid (1.72 vs. 1.29%), while showing a lower n-6/n-3 ratio (11.81 vs. 14.49) and thrombogenicity index (0.78 vs. 0.92). After 10 days of refrigerated storage, breast meat from birds fed the polyphenol-enriched BSFL meal showed markedly lower oxidative deterioration, as indicated by reduced TBARS values (0.60 vs. 1.12 mg MDA/kg), protein carbonyl formation (2.16 vs. 3.35 nmol/mg protein) and hexanal abundance (5.10 vs. 11.90 a.u.; internal-standard-normalized peak area). This treatment also better-preserved redness, as reflected by higher CIE values (3.52 vs. 2.40), compared to the control group. Overall, these results suggest that substrate-tailored BSFL meal may serve as a functional feed ingredient for improving the lipid quality of broilers’ breast meat and delaying oxidation-driven quality deterioration during refrigerated storage.
