Abstract:
Food insecurity is a major problem facing the Kenyan populace. There are acute food shortages that do
not satisfy the increasing population as traditional food stocks continue to be depleted as a result of environmental
changes and increasing population. Faced with problems of food insecurity, increasing food prices and overreliance on the traditional food items, there is an urgent need for Kenyans to diversify their food sources. In
western Kenya, the termites have a long history of consumption as a delicacy during the rainy seasons. A major
problem is that they are varied in species and may not all contain the ingredients required by humans for
nutrition. There are also very few studies that have attempted to evaluate the totality of white ants in Kenya. The
aim of this study was to determine the proximate composition of the termites in Western Kenya. This was done
with an overall aim of determining whether termites can be declared as an alternative food source in Kenya. Data
were collected and analyzed for proximate composition of moisture, protein, lipids, crude fiber. Essential Amino
Acid (EAA) profiles were evaluated to determine protein composition. Food value of the different species was
analyzed by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results indicated that termites have high levels of moisture content of
90.2% crude protein (64%), crude lipids (9.35%), crude fibre (9.53), gross energy of 4.99 kcal and the essential
amino acids at 31.5g/100g. Due to the conditions of families in Kenya this can be a substitute for the sources of
protein substitute for red meat and Tilapia fish meals preferred by many households. The profile of Essential
Amino Acid in the current study was found to be high and therefore white ants formed a very good source of
essential amino acid to the local people. This study therefore concludes that white ants are suitable alternative food
source to replace major rotein food and nutritionists should start a campaign of making the white ants a delicacy.
Given that white ants are neglected food in Kenya, it is recommended that the food items should be consumed as
one of the food in the traditional diets in areas where the species occur.
