Functional Drink from Edible Insects’ Protein Concentrate

Abstract

Current trends in consumer health awareness have led to widespread interest in the development of functional food products, particularly insect-derived protein concentrates. The objective of this research was to study the appropriate conditions for extracting protein from edible insects. The optimum ratio of three types of edible insects, including crickets (40-50%), house crickets (30-40%), and Eri silkworm pupae (10-20%), was studied for protein extraction under pressure in sub-critical conditions (pressurized hot water extraction) with a pressure cooker. The analysis of response surface method (RSM) and Box-Behken design experimental, using boiling temperature under subcritical conditions at 126^ºC for 45 minutes. The optimum condition was using the mixture of crickets, house crickets, and Eri silkworm pupae, 45.27, 39.82, and 20%, giving a protein content and overall preference score were 17.95% and 7.52 score respectively. From the validation process, it was found that the model created from the process of finding the appropriate conditions had a high level of accuracy. The relative average deviations between the predicted values from the model and the actual experimentally measured values for total edible insect protein were 6.40. The extracted protein solution was evaporated to a half of the concentration using a vacuum evaporator. Improve the quality of color and texture for accepted by consumers. The protein content of concentrated protein functional drink product from edible insects was 35.15%.