Snail meat: Significance and consumption

Abstract

The consumption of snail meat goes back to prehistoric times. Different ancient nations had snails on their menu, but Helices culture as a productive activity was born as a Roman culture. Some of the most economically important edible species are: Helix aspersa (Mtiller) Helixpomatia (Linne), Helix iucorum (Linne), Helix aperta (Born), Eobania vermiculata (Miiller). Together with its tasie, snail meat has several advantages over others: quite low lipid rate and calorie values versus rich mineral, essential amino acid and fatty acid content. The composition of snail meat is presented. In addition, the composition of different snail species and the part analyzed (pedal mass and visceral mass) is presented. Also, the differences in composition according to the species (snail meat horse/chicken meat, beef, swine meat, fish meat) are presented. The French are the world's leading consumers of snails. !n France snails come to market in a variety of ways. Estimated consumption of snails in France is around 40 000 tones/year. Total French imports account for 25% of world imports. France is also the leading exporter of prepared snails, mainly sold as preserved snails and prepared dishes. Snail imports have been much higher than exports (65 tones exported in 2002. vs. 2.700 tones imported). Despite the large consumption, only 3% of snails in France come from production (farming). Italy is in second place in the world consumption of snails, and Spain and Germany are in the third and fourth place. The development of snails consumption in Italy is followed with the same amount of production of snails in the whole biological circle. In 2001, from 24,700 tons, 9,350 tons (37.8%) came from production, 6 00 tons (2.4%) came from nature, and 14,750 tons (59.70%) came from imports (frozen, fresh and prepared snails). In Serbia, at the beginning of 2005, we had over 400 registered farms for snail production.

Potrošnja jestivih vrsta puževa ima praistorijsko poreklo. Različiti antički narodi koristili su puževe u jelovniku, ali su Rimljani bili prvi narod koji ih je uzgajao. Među ekonomski najznačajnijim jestivim vrstama su: Helix aspersa (Muller), Helix pomatia (Linne), Helix lucorum (Linne), Helix aperta (Born) i Eobania vermiculata (Muller). Osim ukusa, meso puževa ima nekoliko prednosti u odnosu na ostale vrste mesa: nizak sadržaj masti i kalorijsku vrednost i visok sadržaj mineralnih materija, esencijalnih amino-kiselina i masnih kiselina. U radu su prezentovani podaci o sastavu mesa puževa sa poređenjem sastava različitih vrsta puževa i delova tela (utroba, stopalo). Takođe, upoređen je sastav mesa puževa u odnosu na druge vrste mesa (konjsko/pileće, goveđe, svinjsko i meso ribe). Francuska je zemlja sa najvećom potrošnjom puževa, pripremljenih na različite načine. Potrošnja puževa u Francuskoj se procenjuje na 40 000 tona godišnje. Ukupan uvoz puževa u Francuskoj je 25 posto svetskog uvoza. Francuska je i izvoznik pripremljenih puževa, koji se uglavnom prodaju kao konzervisani puževi i gotova jela. Uvoz puževa je mnogo viši od izvoza (65 tona izvezeno, u 2002. godini, 2700 tona uvezeno iste godine). Nasuprot navedenim podacima, na nivou organizovanog gajenja Francuzi su daleko od prvog mesta, a procenat puževa iz uzgoja procenjuje se na svega 3 posto. Trenutno je Italija na drugom mestu po potrošnji puževa, ispred Španije i Nemačke. Razvoj potrošnje puževa u Italiji praćen je podjednakim rastom proizvodnje u celokupnom životnom ciklusu. U 2001. godini, od 24 700 tona, 9 350 tona (37,8%) činila je proizvodnja iz uzgoja, 600 tona (2,4%) berba iz prirode, a 14 750 tona (59,70%) činio je uvoz svih vrsta i prerada (zamrznutih, živih i prerađenih puževa). U Srbiji je početkom 2005. godine registrovano više od 400 farmi za uzgoj puževa.