Jepson L M, Daniel R, Nyambayo I, Munialo C D
School of Life Sciences, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB UK.
Faculty of Social and Life Sciences, Wrexham University, Mold Rd, WrexhamWales, LL11 2AW UK.
J Food Sci Technol. 2024 Oct;61(10):1998-2007. doi: 10.1007/s13197-024-05975-5. Epub 2024 Apr 3.
The increasing global population and consumer demand for protein pose a serious challenge to the provision of protein-rich diets. Insect farming has been suggested to have a lower environmental impact than conventional animal husbandry which makes insect consumption a more sustainable solution to meet the growing world population's protein requirements. However, there is a reluctancy in the adoption of insect protein especially in the Western diets as whole insect consumption is often met with disgust and resentment. To mitigate against the feeling of disgust and resentment, there have been suggestion to include insects as an ingredient in product development. However, for this to be successfully carried out, the techno-functional properties of insect protein need to be characterised. Therefore, the aim of this study was to isolate and characterise proteins from nine edible insect species. Protein was isolated from nine edible insect species and characterised in terms of the protein content and molecular weight distribution. As crickets are the most common insect food source, the functional characterisation (foaming and emulsification) of protein extracted from house cricket (HC) supernatant protein (SP) was investigated in comparison to commercial whey protein (WP) and pea protein isolate (PPI). The protein content of the buffalo worms and yellow meal worms was significantly ( = 0.000) higher than other insect species such as wild black ants, queen leaf cutter ants, and flying termites. The molecular weight distribution of the nine edible insect species varied from ~ 5 to 250 kDa. HC SP foaming capacity was fourfold and threefold higher than that of WP and PPI respectively. The emulsification potential of HC SP was 1.5 × higher than PPI. The HC protein extract shows promising potential for use in the food industry and represents a potential vehicle for the introduction of insect protein into the diet of societies that are not accustomed to eating insects.
全球人口的增长以及消费者对蛋白质的需求，对提供富含蛋白质的饮食构成了严峻挑战。有人提出，昆虫养殖对环境的影响比传统畜牧业要小，这使得食用昆虫成为满足世界人口不断增长的蛋白质需求的更可持续解决方案。然而，人们对采用昆虫蛋白存在抵触情绪，尤其是在西方饮食中，因为食用整只昆虫往往会引起厌恶和反感。为了减轻这种厌恶和反感的情绪，有人建议在产品开发中加入昆虫作为一种成分。然而，要成功做到这一点，需要对昆虫蛋白的技术功能特性进行表征。因此，本研究的目的是从九种可食用昆虫物种中分离并表征蛋白质。从九种可食用昆虫物种中分离出蛋白质，并对其蛋白质含量和分子量分布进行了表征。由于蟋蟀是最常见的昆虫食物来源，与商业乳清蛋白（WP）和豌豆分离蛋白（PPI）相比，研究了从家蟋蟀（HC）上清液蛋白（SP）中提取的蛋白质的功能特性（起泡和乳化）。水牛蠕虫和黄粉虫的蛋白质含量显著高于其他昆虫物种，如野生黑蚂蚁、切叶蚁蚁后和飞白蚁（=0.000）。这九种可食用昆虫物种的分子量分布在约5至250 kDa之间。HC SP的起泡能力分别比WP和PPI高四倍和三倍。HC SP的乳化潜力比PPI高1.5倍。HC蛋白提取物在食品工业中显示出有前景的潜力，并且代表了一种将昆虫蛋白引入不习惯食用昆虫的社会饮食中的潜在载体。
