Table 1.

Benefits and challenges in the incorporation of insects in food products.

Food products	Insect (replacement %)	Technological challenge	Benefit	References
Wheat bread	Hermetia illucens, Acheta domesticus and Tenebrio molitor (5%)	Insect's enriched breads had high fat content incorporated by high fat content in insects. The fat content of the insect flour must be subtracted from the fat in the formulation.	Protein, lipids and fiber levels were increased an average of 12.7, 246, and 120%, respectively.	(20)
	Cinereous cockroach (Nauphoeta cinerea) (5–15%)		Large percentage of unsaturated fatty acids rich in ω-6 and ω-9 were found. Protein increased to 49% by 10% wheat flour replacement.	(10)
Maize tortilla	T. molitor larva (6.5%)	Tortillas were darker than the control. Consequently, larva was dried at 60°C, temperature in which develops less color; at higher temperatures, the larvae turn a dark brown color.	Protein and fat content increased by 2 and 1%, respectively, as did essential amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan) and polyunsaturated acids (linoleic acid).	(21)
Extruded cereals snacks	Grasshopper (Sphenarium purpurascens Ch.) (0–40%)	Increasing insect proportion decreased expansion index; hardness and water absorption index and increased the bulk density and total color difference. Meal proportion was optimized to improve nutritional while maintaining product quality.	A consumer-friendly extruded snack can be made from a combination of nixtamalized maize flour and grasshopper meal.	(22)
	Yellow mealworm larvae (T. molitor) (10 and 20%)	Increased barrel temperature and screw speed improved snack microstructure (expansion and pore structure), resulting in acceptable textural qualities.	Protein and fat content increase 35 and 288% respectively. Digestibility of T. molitor proteins was improved by 33%.	(17)
Wheat cookies	Palm weevil larvae (Rhynchophorus phoenicis) (10–50%)	As the levels of larva substitution increased, the cookies became softer and very dark in color. Meal proportion was optimized to improve nutritional while maintaining product quality.	Cookies containing 10% insect larvae had higher protein (increased 86%), fat (increased 30%) and fiber (increased 642%) content.	(23)
Pork emulsion sausages	Mealworm larvae (T. molitor) and silkworm pupae (Bombyx mori) (10%)	Fat content increased by 5% and moisture content decreased by −8% with mealworm larvae and silkworm pupae. A. domesticuswas used (less amount of fat). No significant differences were found in fat content or moisture content of meat emulsions.	In emulsion sausages, the protein content increased by 21%, and almost all minerals were increased (e.g., P, K, Ca, Mg, ZN, Mn)specially Zn that increased 89%, Ca and Mg that double its amount and Cu increased 6 folds; mealworm larvae flour contributed to Fe increases by 1.5 folds.	(24)
	Cricket (A. domesticus) (5–10%)		As replacement level increased, P, K, Mg, Zn, and Mn contents of meat emulsion were increased. Compared to regular formulation (control emulsion), insect treatments had higher protein 18–48%.	(11)
Soy meat analog	Alphitobus diaperinus (15–50%)	The addition of soy fiber (5–10%) to samples improved cutting strength to levels comparable to chicken breast meat.	Meat analogs with 25–31% of protein content.	(25)
Insect—soy like- fermented sauce	T. molitor larvae (60–80%)	Browning increased as fermentation progressed in the insect sauces. Browning of defatted insect sauce increased but then dropped dramatically on day 20. The use of sauces with a 60%ratio resulted in higher amino nitrogen content (0.26–0.32%) than sauces with a 80% ratio, indicating more efficient protein degradation.	During fermentation, essential and non-essential amino acids, as well as amino acid derivatives, increased by 1.5–two times.	(26)
Honey spread	Soldier termites (Syntermes soldiers) (8%)	Honey spread with soldier termite flour processed by pan-frying rather than boiling water at 100°C rather than 80 or 90°C had good nutritional and sensory qualities.	Protein increased from 0.4 to 5.5% and Fe and Zn solubility increased to 42.8 and 27.1%, respectively with contents of 3.80 mg/100 g and 1.75 mg/g	(9)
Insect tea	Produced using insect feces fed from tea leaves [Aglossa dimidiata Haworth, Hydrillodes morose Butler, and Nodaria niphona (Butler)].	Low production rate and long production time (1 year).	Higher levels of human essential amino acids such as valine (3 folds), threonine (2.45 folds), and phenylalanine (2.35 folds).	(27)
Wheat based feed	H. illucens (25%)	H. illucens prepupae was not extrudable, by supplementing it with fat (from 3.9 to 4.6%) an acceptable level for extrusion was achieved. Therefore, larvae (with higher fat content than prepupae) was used and the best extrusion performance was obtained.	Extrusion process increased in vitro organic matter digestibility by 16.8% compared to unextruded control.	(12)
Fishmeal based fish feed	H. illucens and A. domesticus (0–75%)	As the level of fish meal substitution increased, Fe and Na levels decreased significantly. Mg content increased with increasing substitution level of H. illucens meal but decreased with increasing substitution level of A. domesticusmeal. As a result, use H. illucens and optimize to prevent Fe levels from dropping to suboptimal levels.	Most minerals were less leached by the diets than by the control diets. P and K levels increased as the level of fish meal substitution increased.	(28)