Psarianos Marios, Ojha Shikha, Schlüter Oliver K
Horticultural Engineering, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Potsdam, Germany.
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy.
Front Nutr. 2023 Jul 18;10:1185612. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1185612. eCollection 2023.
Edible insects, specifically house crickets, are expected to play an important role in the future food systems due to their rich nutritional profile, low environmental impact and growing consumer acceptance as food. Their content of proteins, lipids, chitin and phenolics offer great potential for the valorization of their biomass into nutritional end products and fractions. Furthermore, emerging food processing technologies and green solvents are relevant for improving the valorization process.
High pressure (HP) and ultrasound (US) processing were implemented in an insect biorefinery system, where a hexane/methanol/water solvent was used to separate fat, phenolics and a solid fraction containing proteins and chitin. Subsequently, a deep eutectic solvent of betaine and urea (B/U) was used to for protein and chitin isolation.
A maximum of 15% of fat was isolated, with no positive effect from the US or HP treatments. The US treatment enhanced the phenolic extraction yield by 38.69%, while HP negatively affected the antioxidant capacity. B/U was efficient in separating proteins and chitin, resulting in a protein concentrate with a protein content ≥80% and a chitinous fraction with a chitin content ≥70%.
House cricket biomass can be refined into valuable fractions with a quick and simple method, making the process industrially relevant.
食用昆虫，特别是家蟋蟀，由于其丰富的营养成分、低环境影响以及消费者对其作为食物的接受度不断提高，有望在未来的食品系统中发挥重要作用。它们所含的蛋白质、脂质、几丁质和酚类物质为将其生物质转化为营养终端产品和组分提供了巨大潜力。此外，新兴的食品加工技术和绿色溶剂对于改善转化过程具有重要意义。
在昆虫生物精炼系统中采用高压（HP）和超声（US）处理，使用己烷/甲醇/水溶剂分离脂肪、酚类物质以及含有蛋白质和几丁质的固体部分。随后，使用甜菜碱和尿素的低共熔溶剂（B/U）分离蛋白质和几丁质。
最多分离出15%的脂肪，超声或高压处理均未产生积极影响。超声处理使酚类物质的提取率提高了38.69%，而高压处理对抗氧化能力有负面影响。B/U能有效分离蛋白质和几丁质，得到蛋白质含量≥80%的蛋白质浓缩物和几丁质含量≥70%的几丁质部分。
家蟋蟀生物质可以通过快速简单的方法提炼成有价值的部分，使该过程具有工业相关性。
