Insects have been consumed by human diet since prehistoric times. At present, the idea of looking at insects as food has been getting traction worldwide, also in response to increasing food demands by a growing population. Bread is an iconic staple food for hundred millions of people and food scientists have been indicating the feasibility of producing bread and other baked foods with insect flour. Therefore, what is the current status of bread and bakery foods making/marketing while using of insect flour/powder? Thank you.
Due to the rising demand for proteins, the food industry is considering new alternative protein sources that can be used for human food. A study aimed to explore the potential use of insects' flour as a protein-rich ingredient for bakery products. Hermetia illucens, Acheta domestica, and Tenebrio molitor were ground and used to replace 5% wheat flour in doughs and pieces of bread. The results confirmed the usefulness of insects' flour for making bread with improved nutritional value. This study evaluated the potential application of three different insects as protein source ingredients for bakery products. Results confirm that domestic insect flour could be added to replace wheat flour in pieces of bread without significantly affecting dough properties and leading to pieces of bread with acceptable technological quality and improved nutritional profile. Kindly check the following RG link:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323942647_Insects_as_ingredients_for_bakery_goods_A_comparison_study_of_H_illucens_A_domestica_and_T_molitor_flours
For decades, scientists have known that edible insects can be highly nutritious. What's more, switching from eating livestock to eating insects is good for the environment, as it takes much less space and other resources to farm insects. But it goes without saying that convincing non-insect-eating people to eat insects can be difficult. So, to make insects more appealing to potential diners, researchers have experimented with making food that contains insect-based ingredients but doesn't obviously appear to do so. To see what breads made with insects might be like, scientists in Italy baked experimental loaves using different blends of wheat flour, plus a special ingredient: a commercially available powder made from crickets. But masking the insects, even in powder form, was easier said than done. The researchers found that the more cricket powder there was in the experimental bread loaves, the less the dough rose and the more firm the bread was. This was likely because the more cricket powder there was in a loaf, the less wheat flour there was, thus reducing the amount of gluten that helps bread rise and makes bread chewy, they noted. There was another downside, too: the presence of bacterial spores a dormant state of some types of bacteria in the cricket-based bread. These spores raised potential safety concerns, the researchers said, as such germs might potentially spoil the bread, or even make people sick.
https://www.livescience.com/62878-cricket-bread-bacterial-spores.html
Another study conducted to test the inclusion of mealworm (Tenebrio molitor L.) powder into bread doughs at 5 and 10% substitution level of soft wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) flour to produce protein-fortified bread. The addition of mealworm powder (MP) did not negatively affect the technological features of either doughs or bread. All the tested doughs showed the same leavening ability, whereas bread containing 5% MP showed the highest specific volume and the lowest firmness. An enrichment in protein content was observed in experimental bread where the highest values for this parameter were recorded in bread containing 10% MP. Pieces of bread fortified with 10% MP also exhibited a significant increase in the content of free amino acids, and especially in the following essential amino acids: tyrosine, methionine, isoleucine, and leucine. Based on the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale, the proposed bread-making technology can be situated at level 4 (validation in a laboratory environment), thus suggesting that the production of bread with MP might easily be scaled up at the industrial level. However, potential spoilage and safety issues that need to be further considered were highlighted.
Kindly check the following RG link:
Article Protein fortification with mealworm (Tenebrio molitor L.) po...
Insects as ingredients for bakery goods. A comparison study of H. illucens , A. domestica and T. molitor flours DOI: 10.1016/j.ifset.2018.03.021
By: Cristina M. Gonzalez, Raquel Garzon and Cristina M Rosell
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