Nutritional and Sensory Profiling of the African Giant Land Snail Fed Commercial-Type and Leaf-Based Diets in a Rain-Forest Ecology (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION In Nigeria, meat proteins come largely from conventional sources such as chicken, cattle, sheep, goats and swine or pigs. However, these major animal protein sources have continued to diminish in their capacity to meet demands due to persistent drought, diseases, high cost of feed, primitive animal husbandry techniques and low productivity by local animal breeds. Increasing human population coupled with rising standards of living has placed great pressure on existing conventional sources of animal protein [1]. There is, therefore, need to source for other non-conventional meat protein sources that are equally nutritious yet relatively capable to bridge the gap. Micro-livestock such as the giant snail has been domesticated to solve the problem of protein insufficiency [2, 3]. Snails are the largest group of molluscs constituting the largest animal group next to arthropods. The giant land snails are non-conventional protein sources whose meat is a highly relished delicacy (also known as 'Congo meat') and constitutes an important source of animal protein in many coastal communities of Nigeria and other parts of Africa [4].