Edible insect powder for enrichment of bakery products– A review of nutritional, physical characteristics and acceptability of bakery products to consumers

Abstract

Bakery products including bread are traditionally good sources of carbohydrate but not nutrient-dense. Enrichment with edible insect powder could improve the quantity and quality of protein, fat and dietary fibers to bakery products. A systematic search carried out on the databases PubMed, Scopus and ScienceDirect identified 44 articles that would answer the question: what is known about the effect of enrichment of bakery products with various edible insect powders on the physical, nutritional composition and sensory properties of bakery products. The search strategy and terms applied were (Insect* OR Edible insect* OR Entomophagy*) AND (Bakery product* OR Bake* product*). Bread was the most common bakery product that was insect-enriched, yet muffins/biscuits/crackers/cookies were also reported. Commonly reported edible insects and their larvae were crickets, mealworms, palm weevil larvae, grasshoppers and African emperor moth caterpillars. Before milling into powders, insects and larvae were pre-treated by freeze-drying, oven/tray and microwave drying, blanching and roasting but was not reported for all studies. Generally, bread with up to 10% and muffins/biscuits/crackers/cookies with 5% of insect powder were acceptable to consumers. New areas of research should focus on comparing the water activity, shelf-life and cost of pre-treatment processing methods alongside the nutritional properties of edible insect powders.