Biotechnological approaches to improve the safety of Novel food as a functional ingredient for global nutrition

With a growing world population, increasingly demanding consumers, and a limited amount of agricultural land, finding new alternative protein sources is one of the most interesting goals for human and animal nutrition and health. The edible insects and their derivatives perfectly fit in this framework as an alternative protein source for humans. Insect production has great potential with respect to sustainability mainly due to the ability of many insects to be reared on organic side streams, including food wastes and by-products. However, advanced cultivation and processing techniques might be required. 
Edible insects have gained more and more attention in Europe as an underexploited sustainable protein and nutrient source for food and their use in novel food applications has recently been approved by the EFSA. Fermentation with lactic acid bacteria, has widely been reported as a valuable tool to improve and enhance functional potential and food safety of both animal and plant-based foods and food-ingredients.

An in-depth investigation and the insect microbiota will allow an ad-hoc selection of the microbial starter to be used in the fermentation. Both culture dependent and independent approaches (NGS, new generation sequencing) will be used to define the insect microbiota. An integrated approach, including chromatographic and electrophoresis analysis, will be used to evaluate the effect of the fermentation on proteins, protein derivatives and digestibility. Biological activities, i.e., antioxidant, antihypertensive, and antimicrobial potential, will be investigated and the biomolecules believed to be responsible for these will be isolated, purified and characterized. First, the modulation effect on human gut microbiota and the biological activities will be assessed in-vitro by using the simulator of the human intestinal microbial ecosystem (SHIME) and biological system models (cell lines), respectively. The main nutritional, functional, technological, and sensory properties of each food will be investigated.

This project will allow to build competitive and robust Novel Food Cultures with protective effects range. A positive environmental impact will derive from the expected reduction in food loss and waste. The fermented ingredient, characterized by high content of highly digestible proteins and biological activities, could be used for novel food making worldwide (developed vs developing countries). A specific purpose of this solution is the production of food that fits for human consumption, with a reduced risk of foodborne outbreaks and an acquired advantage in healthy solutions. Moreover, the combination of the insect flour with high nutritional and functional potentials and the selected fermentation with lactic acid bacteria considered a sustainable and valuable tool to enhance such features and foods safety of novel food will allow the preparation of clean-label products meeting also the most recent consumer’s demands.