Impact of emerging technologies on colloidal properties of insect proteins

Abstract

Edible insects have emerged as promising protein sources with nutritional and functional advantages. There is a growing interest in implementing insect-based products as food ingredients in order to replace conventional animal-based foods and reduce their environmental footprint. Emerging technologies claim to improve protein technofunctionalities at the same time as they operate efficiently and sustainably. However, different processing parameters represent a relevant impact on product quality and extraction yielding. There is a lack of knowledge on how these processing conditions can be optimized to obtain an efficient and functional protein-enriched product. This review aims to shed light on the current studies involving insect products treated by alternative technologies such as high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasound, pulsed electric field, and ohmic heating, and how they have contributed to protein extraction and functionalization. The possible gaps for future research and the perspectives in this field are briefly discussed in the present work.