Analisi entomologiche degli alimenti: risultati di un decennio di attività

Entomological analyses of foodstuffs: results of ten years of activity. - The entomological analyses of foodstuffs carried out by the authors over the last decade are considered. The results have enabled to establish the identity of the most frequent pests in different kinds of food: cereals and cereal-based products, dressings and canned products, mushrooms and vegetables, dairy products and preserved meats. The most common pests found in the foodstuffs were: Plodia, Ephestia, Sitophilus, Tribolium, Oryzaephilus in cereal-based products; Lepidoptera Noctuidae and Pyralidae, Rhynchota Lygaeidae, Coleoptera Elateridae and Geotrupidae in dressings and canned products; Diptera Mycetophiloidea and Thysanoptera in mushrooms and vegetables; Lepidoptera Tineidae, Coleoptera Dermestidae, Diptera Piophilidae and Mycetophiloidea and different Astigmata mites in dairy and seasoned products. Typhaea stercorea (Coleoptera Mycetophagidae), which feeds on moulds in storage facilities which are not kept perfectly clean, was found occasionally.