Exploitation of cracked chicken eggs by scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae): the first record from Malaysia
Poultry farm eggs, mainly chicken eggs, are one of the most widely used livestock products in Malaysia. For the past four years, Malaysians consumed more than 10 billion eggs annually with yearly record of more than 300 eggs per individual consumption. The demand for ‘designer eggs’ that are low...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pusat Sistematik Serangga, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2020
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15607/1/35536-124784-1-PB.pdf http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15607/ http://ejournals.ukm.my/serangga/issue/view/1259/showToc |
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| Institution: | Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | Poultry farm eggs, mainly chicken eggs, are one of the most widely used livestock products in
Malaysia. For the past four years, Malaysians consumed more than 10 billion eggs annually
with yearly record of more than 300 eggs per individual consumption. The demand for
‘designer eggs’ that are low in cholesterol and high in omega-3 fatty acids from the consumers
was also increasing at retail stores but the presence of pests in these products was rarely known.
This article reports the contamination of marketed designer chicken eggs by Megaselia scalaris
(Loew) (Diptera: Phoridae) and Megaselia spiracularis Schmitz, two scuttle fly species of
medical and forensic importance. Data were obtained from four chicken eggs delivered by a
consumer to Forensic Entomology Laboratory, Forensic Science Programme, Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia (UKM). Upon inspection, only one of the
eggs was found cracked, containing dipterous larvae. Larvae were reared on the cracked eggs
in a sealed container in the laboratory (23.0–27.0℃, 69.0–70.0% RH) until adult stage to
facilitate species identification of phorids. The discovery of larvae of both species feeding on
cracked, commercialized chicken eggs highlighted the risk of contamination on poultry
products by scuttle flies. For economic and medical reasons, these findings could be useful to
properly assess quality management in the production of designer chicken eggs, as scuttle flies
have been previously recorded as pests and agents of myiasis through contaminated food
ingestion. |
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