NEW INGREDIENT SOURCES Mealworm Products With Custom-Made Texture Due to the environmental impact of such as , and poultry, a need for alternative protein sources and meat substitutes is growing. seem to provide the optimal alternative.

by Wibke S.U. Roland, Lenka Tonneijck-Srpova, Nam-Phuong Humblet-Hua and Marieke E. Bruins

hat seemed like a futur- tive. The amino acid composition of pending on their developmental shows protein and contents istic idea only recently many edible insects is similar to that stage: , larvae, pupae and adults. in different insects. The highlight- has now become reali- of meat, especially when it comes Depending on the intended ap- ed section in this figure shows the Wty: insects as ingredients. More to essential amino acids. On top of plication, a high, medium, or low top 20 edible insects that are high and more food companies are look- that, lipids are composed of content of protein, fat, or chitin in protein and low in chitin concen- ing into the possibilities of using a high content of unsaturated fatty is advisable and should direct the trations. One of the most favorable insects as ingredients in their food. acids, meaning that they are health- product developer’s or scientist’s insects from this group is the Experts at Wageningen University ier than conventional meat, which choice. When looking for an insect , Bombyx mori, which makes & Research are making the choice is rich in less healthy saturated fat- that would be used as a whole or as a great choice for protein extraction, of suitable insect species easier with ty acids. Furthermore, the environ- a flour or paste, it is more impor- with almost 70% protein. The silk their inventory of nutrients. Their mental impact of insects, such as tant to choose an insect that is rich worm can also be eaten as is. For ex- research shows that yellow meal- feed conversion rate, ammonia and in both protein and fat, and low or ample, in Vietnam, these side-prod- worm paste can be produced with methane emissions, and CO2 foot- moderate in chitin, as chitin-rich ucts of silk production are consumed diverse textures, which offers possi- print, is significantly lower than that parts of the insects are uncomfort- with spices and sauce. Another in- bilities for the development of prod- of usual livestock. able to chew on. teresting insect is the yellow meal- ucts like insect burgers and spreads. worm, molitor – which is A growing global population is Choice of Insects Insect Inventory the larvae of the mealworm , creating a growing demand for pro- Grasshopper, larvae of black soldier To assist in making the right choice, a which can be used as a whole with a teins and meat. Due to the environ- fly or mealworm beetle? Of all the Wageningen University (WUR) team reasonable fat (circa 40%) and pro- mental impact of animal meat such edible insects available, which one created an inventory of hundreds of tein (circa 50%) content, which is as beef, pork and poultry, a need should we choose as a food or food edible insects reported in scientific low in chitin. for alternative protein sources and ingredient? Insects are very diverse, literature and plotted their contents meat substitutes is growing. Insects and within each species, there is a of protein, fat and chitin. An exam- Insect Product Innovation seem to provide the optimal alterna- large difference in composition de- ple can be seen in figure 1, which Keeping the environmental and nu- tritional reasons in mind, edible in- sects seem to be an ideal alternative to meat, if it weren’t for the legs and the wings and the creepy-crawly at- tributes that make them less accept- able as food for Western consumers. Then again, almost one-third of the world's population eats insects on a regular basis. The market for insects is emerging. What kind of com- mercial insect products have been launched in recent years? As the so-called , which are in fact the larvae of insects, have a high protein and fat content and are low in chitin, this group became the focus of our Innova Database search. We basically found three catego- Figure 1: Edible insects sorted by protein and chitin content. ries of worm products:

108 THE WORLD OF FOOD INGREDIENTS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017

Insects.indd 108 19-10-2017 17:54:46 • Dried whole worms the worms are unrecognizable in Technical Challenges tion would be no treatment at all. as pet food; food products, which will increase In o order t use ingre- In this case, microbial safety can be • Dried and seasoned worms, the chance of acceptance by west- dients, among others (see outbox), assuredy b heating the mealworm as snacks or seasoning, and; ern society. In mealworm spreads, two hurdles have to be overcome: mi- burger in the pan. • Processed worms as ingre- the main components are vegeta- crobial safety and browning. Brown- A burger should be somewhat dients in spreads and meat bles and vegetable oil, whereas meal ingf o mealworms occurs due to the crumbly and release some mois- alternatives. worms account for only 4-6% of the presencef o the enzyme polyphe- ture, but not too much. Both meal- The first category, pet food, is ne- ingredients. Meat alternatives such noloxidase. WUR performed ex- worm burgers meet these require- glected here in this particular food as schnitzels, vegetable-based burg- periments with yellow mealworms ments. A pâté type of texture can also context.e Th second category, snacks ersr o nuggets contain 14% buffalo (Tenebrio molitor), addressing these be achieved with mealworms when and seasoning, has the smallest por- worm which is relatively high, as it two aspects, followed by an investi- high-pressure treatment at 500 MPa tion size and the highest price per kil- is s listed a a second ingredient after gation of texturization. (5,000 bar) is applied. ogram. For example, flavored meal- water. These non-vegetarian meat al- In our experiments, different Compared to real pâté, which worm crisps used as a fancy snack ternatives, therefore, represent prod- blanching and high-pressure treat- is mostly made of pork meat, liver cost more than €150/kg, with por- ucts with a more substantial insect ments – a relatively new mild pres- and n fat, a additional advantage is tion f sizes o circa 20g. These prod- content. Overall, the number of in- ervation technique – were tested on that the surface layer stays fresh for ucts are clearly niche products, as sect food products is quite small. As whole mealworms. The mealworms at least 3 weeks. In laboratory tests, they are too high in price or are con- for making insects substantial replac- were then ground into a paste in or- high pressure treated mealworms sumedn i too little amounts to be ersf o our common animal proteins, dero t evaluate the effect of the treat- showedn a appealing orange/light relevant for nutrition. The third cat- processed worms as ingredients in mentsn o browning. The best condi- brown color, and the aroma of meal- egory, processed worms as ingredi- spreads and meat alternatives are tions that prevented browning were: worm paste was savory, with a mush- ents,s i very interesting from a nu- the most promising. Short blanching with a peak tem- room and nutty note. Upon baking, tritional point of view. Additionally, perature of 80°C, or; the aroma even intensified. High-pressure treatment with These properties, combined with pressuresf o > 400 MPa (4,000 bar). excellent nutritional values, sup- The side effect of blanching is ports our belief that mealworm a softly textured mealworm paste, paste has a future as a food ingre- whereas high-pressure treatment re- dientn o the non-vegetarian meat sultedn i a harder and drier texture. replacer market.t Browning could also be prevented by the use of air-tight packaging. Wibke Roland, Lenka Tonneijck- Srpova, Nam-Phuong Humblet- Custom-Made Texture Hua and Marieke Bruins conduct applied research in the Food Combining the results of blanching Technology group of Wage- and high-pressure treatments allows ningen Food and Biobased uso t tailor the texture of the meal- Research, mainly on request of worm product. For a spread, the food companies. The mealworm color should be light and the tex- research was performed within the STW In2Food project – Pro- ture soft. Therefore blanching is the duction and valorization of high best method. proteins from insects. For more For a burger, browning and a firm- information about product Figure 2: Baked mealworm paste is dark brown for fresh and er texture are desirable, so the ad- development with insects, 250-300 MPa, compared to light brown for 400-500 MPa vices i high-pressure treatment at please contact Marieke Bruins: [email protected] and light brown for blanched treatment. 400 MPa (4,000 bar). Another op-

t Aspects of Insects as Food Ingredients

In addition to nutrient content, other aspects of insects have to be taken into account for their use as food ingredients as well: • Productivity and possibility for mass-rearing • Insects should feed on substrates free from pathogenic microor- ganisms and toxic compounds, as they might accumulate them. • Allergenicity – The allergenicity of insects is an aspect which has not sufficiently been researched yet for most species, and which should be labeled when known. People allergic to crustaceans or house dust mites might be allergic to some insects as well. • Legal status – At the end of 2015, the EU decided that insects have to go through a Novel Food regulation process, although national exceptions do exist.t

110 THE WORLD OF FOOD INGREDIENTS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017

Insects.indd 110 19-10-2017 17:58:12