摘要：Four different breeds of snail, Archachatina Marginata (AM), Achatina Achatina (AA), Achatina Fulica (AF) and Limicolaria species (LM) were analyzed for proximate composition and mineral profile of the snail flesh (foot or edible potion). Proximate analysis of the snail flesh revealed that moisture was highest in LM (84.91%) and least in AM (73.67%). The crude protein contents of the breeds were significantly different from one another (p<0.05). The values ranged from 19.53% for AM to 5.86% for LM. The ash and ether extract of AM and AA were significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of AF, while LM had the least. AF had the highest Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE) while the least was observed in AM. The NFE and ether extract (fat) contents were generally low. The result of the mineral profile showed that AM recorded highest value (mg/100 g) in Calcium (126.40), Iron (2.29), Phosphorous (22.91), Magnesium (25.01) and Copper (1.03) while LM had the least values of 36.20, 0.72, 8.98, 5.28 and 0.29 respectively. These values across breeds for all the minerals analyzed were significantly different (p<0.05) from one another with the following trend AM>AA>AF>LM. There was no detection of lead and mercury in any of the samples. The result of the study showed that the African giant land snail, Archachatina marginata , apart from having size advantage is the favoured breed based on its nutritional superiority.
