Insects as Food and Food Ingredients

Technological Improvements, Sustainability, and Safety Aspects

1st Edition - November 29, 2023
Editors: Marco Garcia-Vaquero, Carlos Álvarez García
Language: English
Paperback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 5 5 9 4 - 2
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 5 5 9 5 - 9

Insects as Food and Food Ingredients: Technological Improvements, Sustainability, and Safety Aspects addresses the use of insects as food by following a farm-to-fork approach… Read more

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Insects as Food and Food Ingredients: Technological Improvements, Sustainability, and Safety Aspects addresses the use of insects as food by following a farm-to-fork approach and covering general aspects concerning farming, processing and the main applications of insects and insect derived ingredients in the food sector. Broken into three sections, this book addresses insect farming, the challenges of processing whole insects, or their fractionation into insect ingredients by the means of conventional and innovative technologies, as well as the biological properties, application, safety, functionality and nutritional value of both insects and their ingredients for food applications. Nutrition researchers, nutritionists, food scientists, health professionals, agricultural researchers, biosystem engineers and those working in or studying related disciplines will benefit from this reference.

Cover image
Title page
Table of Contents
Copyright
Contributors
Chapter 1. Overview of edible insects
1. Introduction
2. Book structure and rationale
3. Detailed book objectives
Section I. Insects — farming & value as food
Chapter 2. Current status of insect farming for food application
1. Introduction
2. Edible insect species biology and properties
3. Current status of the sector
4. Current insect production practices
5. Challenges and opportunities of insects
6. Insect market prospects
Chapter 3. Nutritional value of insects and derived ingredients
1. Introduction
2. Nutritional value of insect protein
3. Nutritional value of lipids
4. Nutritional value and uses of chitin
5. Future challenges and opportunities
Chapter 4. Sustainability and economic aspects of insect farming and consumption
1. Introduction
2. Importance of edible insects in the nutritional value of the diet and its sustainability of the planet
3. Nutritional value of edible insects and its impact on sustainability
4. Sustainability of edible insects
5. Food safety and preservation
6. Livelihoods
7. The market of insects as food
8. Economic analysis of the production system developed for application in food
9. Conclusions
Section II. Processing of insects & ingredients
Chapter 5. Insect processing technologies
1. Introduction
2. Conventional processing technologies for the production of whole insects or insect flour as food
3. Innovative technologies for the production of whole insects for food applications
4. Effect of processing on the nutritional characteristics of whole insects for food applications
5. Insect flour as a marketable food ingredient
6. Economics of insect processing
7. Conclusion: Challenges and opportunities
Chapter 6. Processing of edible insects for protein production
1. Introduction
2. Protein content and estimation process
3. Characterization and identification of protein of edible insects
4. Nutritional potential of protein obtained from edible insects
5. Food processing techniques
6. Protein extraction process from edible insects
7. Physicochemical properties of protein
8. Conclusion
Chapter 7. Processing insects for lipid production
1. Introduction
2. Overall lipid composition of insects
3. Extraction of insect lipids for food and feed purposes
4. Conclusion
Chapter 8. Insect processing for chitin production
1. Introduction
2. Conventional method for chitin extraction from insects
3. Biological processing
4. Application of green solvents and emerging technologies
5. Conclusions and future perspectives
Chapter 9. Current status and future trends on the use of innovative technologies for recovering bioactive from insects
1. Introduction
2. Overview of traditional extraction of valuable compounds from insects
3. Emerging technologies in insect processing: Mechanism and their application
4. Limitations of emerging extraction methods
5. Prospects and opportunities for scaling-up to industrial level
Section III. Applications & safety of insects — food & others
Chapter 10. Functional applications of edible insects and derived ingredients in food products
1. Introduction
2. Techno-functional properties of insect (protein) powder
3. Chitin and chitosan as functional ingredients
4. Techno-functional properties of finished insect-based products
5. Conclusions
Chapter 11. Biological properties and safety aspects of edible insects
1. Introduction
2. Biological relevance of insect components
3. Potential health-promoting effects
4. Safety of insects and insect-derived products
5. Future perspectives and challenges
Disclaimer
Chapter 12. Entomogastronomy, a step beyond just eating insects
1. Introduction
2. Overcoming entomophobia, the first step to enjoying entomogastronomy
3. The quest for deliciousness
4. The Nordic Food Lab and Noma as the Western paradigm of entomogastronomic research
5. Entomogastronomy: Insects in haute cuisine and creative cuisine restaurants
6. Summary
Chapter 13. Other applications of insects in the agrifood sector
1. Introduction
2. Insects as feed
3. Insects for agrifood waste management
4. Further use of insects in the agrifood chain
5. Regulatory aspects
6. Conclusions and future recommendations
Chapter 14. Consumer perception of insects and derived ingredients as food
1. Introduction
2. Major barriers
3. Acceptance of insects as food
4. Main factors of consumer acceptance
5. Disgust of eating insects
6. Acceptance of entomophagy in the context of the ValuSect project – A cross-sectional study in an international context
7. Conclusion
Chapter 15. History of edible insects and future perspectives
1. History of edible insects
2. Edible insects and population growth
3. Edible insects and environmental sustainability
4. Edible insects and food security
5. Potential risks of using insects as food
6. Policy environment for edible insect
7. Recommendations towards supporting the sector
Index

Marco Garcia-Vaquero

Assistant Prof. Dr. Marco Garcia-Vaquero (DVM, MVetSci, PhD) works at the School of Agriculture and Food Science at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland. Dr. Garcia-Vaquero has a broad research experience in food science research with working experiences in Spain (University of Santiago de Compostela) and Ireland (Teagasc and UCD) where he continues his research in the development of functional foods or nutraceuticals. Dr. Garcia-Vaquero’s primary research interest focuses on the utilization of algae (macroalgae and microalgae) and other agri-food waste or by-products for the generation of novel food ingredients. His research explores the use and optimization of innovative technologies for the extraction of high-value compounds from agri-food by-products as nutraceuticals, as well as the chemical analyses of these compounds and their biological activities (anti-hypertensive, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-microbial and immunomodulatory), safety (chemical hazards, such as heavy metals) and bio-accessibility of these compounds in vitro. Throughout his career, Dr. Garcia-Vaquero has written over 50 publications, contributed in more than 30 conferences, advised policy makers and edited multiple special issues in peer-reviewed journals and books in the area of functional foods, food safety and innovative technologies providing also guidance and supervision within this research area to multiple masters, PhDs and postdoctoral researchers. His expertise in the field of functional foods, specially focused on the use of innovative technologies for the utilization of food by-products, has been recognized by being appointed as an editorial board member of several international journals, member of the Institute of Food and Health (UCD) and as management committee member and group leader in multiple European research networks, leading European and International researchers in the field of food technology.

Affiliations and expertise

Scientific Researcher, School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

Carlos Álvarez García

Dr. Álvarez’s research focuses on revalorizing and characterizing emerging protein sources to be used as functional and nutritional ingredients in novel food formulations and as raw material for new biodegradable plastics. Moreover, Dr. Álvarez is currently part of the European Interreg project ValuSect focused on investigating multiple aspects of edible insects including the use of food losses for insect rearing and the impact of the rearing conditions on the nutritional and safety aspects of final insect-based products when consumed as food. Dr. Alvarez has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers, participated in more than 30 national and international congresses, published more than 10 book chapters and filed 3 patents on protein processing. He is currently member of the editorial board of Food Chemistry (Elsevier).

Affiliations and expertise

Teagasc, Food Research Centre Ireland, Dublin, Ireland