Abstract
The mineral composition of Cirina forda Westwood, an edible food insect was investigated in an attempt to spot possible differences in the compositions of the two edible stages, i.e. mature larva and prepupa of the insect available in the market. Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrophotometer (ICPAES) was used for the sequential analysis of Ca, Cu, Fe, K,, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Se and Zn. Both the larvae and prepupae presented mineral compositions that will readily meet up the human mineral requirement. Although the larvae presented relatively higher values of macronutrients, and the prepupae had relatively higher trace elements, these differences were not significant (p = 0.001) except with Na, which was significantly higher (p=0.001) in prepupa. On comparison with other ffods as a mineral source, C. forda proved to be a better source of mineral salts.