With the human population expected to grow to 10 billion by 2050 and the total land mass remaining constant, traditional animal husbandry could become a less viable method of food production.
Animal husbandry has traditionally met human protein needs, but insects could serve as an alternative to direct human consumption in the future.
Jacek Jaczynski, Professor of Food Science and Muscle Food Safety at Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, West Virginia University, Yong-Lak Park, Professor of Entomology, and Kristen Matak, Professor of Animal and Nutritional Sciences, determined the nutritional and functional properties of Protein for cricket, grasshopper and silkworm pup powder and thus lays the foundation for the development of efficient protein isolation techniques. Your results will be published in LWT.
“We have a patent on a protein isolation process, ”said Jaczynski. “We use our patented technique to isolate protein and then learn more about the properties of isolated protein and how it can potentially be used in food for human consumption.”
Protein isolation is a process that enables the purification and concentration of protein from various sources, said Jaczynski.
“For example, milk contains water, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and various proteins such as casein and whey,” said Jaczynski. “Whey protein can be selectively isolated by various isolation processes that remove water, fat, carbohydrates, and so on. This process leads to whey protein isolate or purified and highly concentrated protein. “
Whey protein isolate is a very common food additive that leads to foods with high protein content, for example. In the Jaczynski, Park and Matak project, they isolate proteins such as muscle proteins from insects.
Jaczynski and Matak said that as the human population increases, there must be an alternative protein option.
“Overall, I think we have carbohydrates under control, but protein always falls behind,” said Jaczynski. “That’s why we’re targeting proteins from alternative sources such as insects, hopefully to help reduce hunger, malnutrition and difficult societal problems.”
“The global demand for sustainable sources of protein has resulted in a shift from traditional sources like meat to other sources that have otherwise been overlooked,” said Matak. “Edible insects and insect meals hold great promise as meat alternatives because they are typically high in protein and contain all of the essential amino acids.”
To make the insects more attractive to eat, researchers suggest turning the insect into powder. This method is similar to processing nutritional supplements into flour to make it more palatable.
Insect powders are essentially dried and powdered insects and are similar to cereal flours or vegetable powders.
While insect powders are a simple and convenient processing method to extend shelf life, the original composition likely limits their use in food products, which Jaczynski, Park, and Matak said could result in poor consumer acceptance.
Park said that bug powders are currently commercially available and can be found in granola bars, tofu, and burgers.
The habit of eating terrestrial insects is widespread in most of the world. In Western cultures, however, swallowing insects is rated negatively.
Even so, most land edible insects appear to be cleaner than crabs, lobsters, and shrimp because they feed on fresh plants and wood instead of carrion.
Jaczynski said that 80% of the world’s population already consume insects and that western cultures make up the 20% that don’t.
“It’s a minority that doesn’t consume insects, ”said Jaczynski. “When the population grows, we all have to feed. I’m not saying that insects will replace our livestock, but it’s another alternative that seems more sustainable than what we’re doing now. “
For example, insect protein can be harvested much faster than a cow or pig and would also require less land and water use. Insects also have a short lifespan, reproduce quickly, and have simple and minimal habitat and nutritional requirements.
According to Jaczynski and Park, the harvest cycle for insects is generally 45 days, which is far shorter than for traditional livestock, which is four to 36 months.
A certain type of grasshopper has even been shown to produce the same proteins found in pigs and cows called actin and myosin.
There are over 2,000 species of insects that have been identified as safe for human consumption, but some species have been studied more widely than others. said Park.
“Mealworms and crickets are popular because they are very easy to mass produce, ”said Park. “So if we produce insects as food for humans and as animal feed, mass production should be very simple, otherwise it doesn’t justify the costs.”
Park added that in some Asian countries, people ingest leftover silkworm pupae from a cocoon because of their high nutritional value.
In their study, Jaczynski, Park and Matak found that proteins can be efficiently isolated from insects using pH solubility precipitation, resulting in isolates of high nutritional and functional quality.
Proteins, like sugar and salt, dissolve in water. However, protein solubility depends on the pH of a solution in which the protein is located.
“Depending on the pH of a protein solution, the protein solubility can be turned on or off, much like a light switch, so that protein can dissolve or precipitate (no solubility),” said Jaczynski.
Precipitation is the opposite of solubility. When protein dissolves in a solution, it visually disappears from that solution, just like sugar or salt, while when protein fails, it visually reappears, Jaczynski said.
“When it comes to insects, we want to selectively extract these nutrients like proteins and lipids,” said Jaczynski.
“Grains have been around for ages and have been totally accepted by all communities,” Jaczynski continued. “Why don’t we use high-level insects of the same type as a source of nutrients? We need to find a way to extract and isolate high quality nutrients and develop prototypes that suit our taste buds well. “
Emily Brogan, a former graduate student in animal and nutritional sciences, was involved in this study.
Quote: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2021.112314
-WVU-
af / 11.01.22
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