Recovery and techno-functionality of flours and proteins from two edible insect species: Meal worm (Tenebrio molitor) and black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae

Depending on the species, edible insects are highly nutritious and thus represent a noteworthy alternative food and feed source. The current work investigates the protein extractability and techno-functionality of insect flour fractions recovered from Tenebrio molitor and Hermetia illucens. T. molitor and H. illucens flours contained about 20% crude fat and 60% and 36 % crude protein, respectively. Defatting reduced the crude fat content to 2.8% (T. molitor) and 8.8% (H. illucens) and increased the crude protein content to 68% and 47%, respectively. To isolate proteins from the flours, protein solubility was optimized by varying the pH, the ionic strength, and the extraction temperature of the solvent. All products and by-products accumulated in the protein production process were characterized by composition, selected techno-functional properties, protein solubility, composition and structure as well as their microbial load.