Edible insects: Alternative protein for sustainable food and nutritional security

Abstract

Any food systems applied has to ensure that the food is secure for the people. Nutritional needs are considered integral to the food security concept and sustainability is also important. One of the nutritional needs in food is protein. Proteins mostly obtained from animal-based sources such as meat and fish, plant-based proteins, particularly legumes. However, the production of meat, more importantly ruminant meat is more and more argued for some issues including environment, food safety, and animal welfare. In order to ensure sustainable protein production, the dietary change would be to use alternative protein sources such as insects. In general, insects have high protein content and excellent production efficiency compared with other conventional protein food groups. It is necessarily important to develop the use of insects in various forms, including pastes or powders, concentrates or isolates which can be used further as ingredients or fortified agents in new food product formulations. This paper therefore explores the feature of edible insects as sustainable and viable food source that can contribute to food security including, types of edible insects as food and their nutritional compositions; and processing of edible insects. In conclusion, insects can contribute to sustainable food and nutritional security and be a part of the solution to protein shortages. Insect protein concentrates could potentially be an alternative protein source in food formulation.