Quality Aspects of Insects as Food—Nutritional, Sensory, and Related Concepts

Abstract

In the search for another appealing source of future food to cover the increasing need for nutrients of a growing global population, this study reviewed the potential of insects as human food. Most previous reviews have dealt with insects as a group, making it difficult to evaluate each individual insect species as food because of the generalized data. This study assessed some common edible insects, but concentrated on mealworms. Insects, especially mealworms, have a similar or higher nutritional value than many conventional food sources. For example, the protein content of mealworm larvae is reported to be almost 50% of dry weight, while the fat content is about 30% of larval dry weight. Mealworms can be cooked by different methods, such as hot air drying, oven broiling, roasting, pan frying, deep frying, boiling, steaming, and microwaving. Oven broiling in particular gives a desirable aroma of steamed corn for consumers. Changes in the flavor, taste, and texture of mealworm products during storage have not been studied, but must be determined before mealworms can be used as a commercial food source. Factors controlling the shelf-life of mealworms, such as their packaging and storage, should be identified and considered with respect to the feasibility of using mealworms on a commercial scale.

Australian Consumers’ Response to Insects as Food

“…Yet, even if nutritional values and environmental concerns are often used to promote insect-eating, it is important to consider how taste attributes are relevant to the overall acceptance [59]. Our study confirmed the results of Wilkinson et al [28], who suggest that Australian consumers would be more open if insects were processed and incorporated into familiar products (e.g., bakery products).…”

Status of meat alternatives and their potential role in the future meat market — A review

“…However, its actual effect is still negligible, and the Western civilization is not ready to eat edible insects in intact forms [52]. The development of insect-based ingredients/products rather than intact forms can facilitate the adoption of insects as a food resource [57][58][59]. Therefore, several studies have been conducted to process insects as new food ingredients and to include them in familiar foods or in processing of food products [36,37].…”

Edible Insects Processing: Traditional and Innovative Technologies

“…Although edible insects generally have a high nutritional value, nutrient composition varies with the species, life stage, sex, and diet. The nutritional value of edible insects is widely recognized (Ayensu, Annan, Edusei, & Lutterodt, 2019;Elhassan et al, 2019;Feng et al, 2017;Rumpold & Schlüter, 2013). In Figure 1, a short summary of the nutritional content of the nine insect orders is provided.…”