Impact of emerging technologies on colloidal properties of insect proteins

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.