Differences in moisture sorption characteristics and browning of lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus) ingredients

He Sun,Ornella Necochea Velazco,Catriona Lakemond,Matthijs Dekker,Lee Cadesky,Maryia Mishyna

doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2021.110989

Abstract

Lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus) is an insect species that can be reared on an industrial scale for human consumption. In this study, the hydration behavior of processed lesser mealworm food ingredients (whole powder, protein concentrate, textured protein) was analyzed in comparison to whey protein concentrate and tofu. Moisture adsorption isotherms were determined gravimetrically over 0.11–0.96 water activity range at 5 and 20 °C, and seven sorption models were applied to fit the experimental data. The Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer model performed best on the isotherms of all studied samples. The determined adsorption isotherms were type III according to Brunauer classification. Mealworm protein concentrate presented the strongest hydration capacity at 20 °C, followed by whey protein concentrate and whole mealworm powder. Textured mealworm protein and tofu exhibited similar hydration behavior at 5 °C. Moreover, browning and agglomeration of mealworm protein concentrate powder were observed at water activities of 0.73 and higher, which can be explained by its composition and porous structure and were not typical for whey protein concentrate. The moisture adsorption results are important for the prediction of lesser mealworm ingredients shelf-life or prevention of undesirable quality changes during storage, but more research on microbial growth and sensory quality is needed.

Highlights

The world population is expected to increase to 9.7 billion in 2050 (United Nations, 2019), this comes with an increasing demand for ani mal protein, limited land area, and low sustainability of existing food production systems
This has been suc cessfully demonstrated in the lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus) of which food ingredients products are available in Western Europe
IP, IPC, TIP, whey protein concen trate (WPC), and tofu exhibited type III adsorption moisture isotherms according to Brunauer classification in this work

Summary

Introduction

The world population is expected to increase to 9.7 billion in 2050 (United Nations, 2019), this comes with an increasing demand for ani mal protein, limited land area, and low sustainability of existing food production systems. In this regard, the studies for new protein sources are emerging over recent years (Fasolin et al, 2019). One successful strategy is processing insects into powder, protein isolates, and oils that can be used in the formulation of novel insect-based foods in order to attract consumers This has been suc cessfully demonstrated in the lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus) of which food ingredients products are available in Western Europe. The lesser mealworm has high protein content and its essential amino acid content is comparable to soybean proteins (Yi et al, 2013)

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