ABSTRACT
Dept, of Public Health, Comparative Pathology and Veterinary Hygiene, Padova University, Padova, ItaZy. E-mail: valerio.giaccone@unipd.it
Abstract Frogs, snails, rodents, and insects could be a very interesting source of food for humans but unfortunately at present constitute no or a minimal part of the daily diet in most developed countries. The advantages and, of course, the problems which could arise for humans from the hygienic point of view, by the consump tion of this "uncommon" source of meat are elucidated in this paper. All these animals could produce meats with very high protein content and with a quite interesting content of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. On the other hand, they could present a variety of hygienic problems if consumed raw. New techniques of food handling and preservation which are able to re duce or eliminate these problems are proposed.
