Quality and Nutritional/Textural Properties of Durum Wheat Pasta Enriched with Cricket Powder

• Main Author: Marina Carcea
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-09-01
• Series: Foods
• Subjects: edible insects; insect-based food; cricket powder; durum wheat semolina dry pasta; nutritional properties; technological properties
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/9/1298

Edible insects have always been consumed by humans and nowadays they are looked at with interest by the research community as a means to produce food at low environmental cost for a growing and increasingly demanding population. A large number of different species are edible, and they can contribute fats, protein, fibre, vitamins, and minerals to the human diet. The absence of specific legislation on the use of insects as food, coupled with the general population’s disgust at the idea of eating insects, are among the limiting factors for the development of insect farming in developed countries. Several consumer studies have concluded that hiding insects in traditional foods can increase people’s willingness to eat insect-based foods. Cereal-based foods such as bread, bakery products, pasta, etc., being so popular worldwide and so widely accepted by the population, have been used by researchers as a carrier for the introduction of different percentages of insect flours to improve their nutritional qualities. The research by Duda et al. on “Quality and Nutritional/Textural Properties of Durum Wheat Pasta enriched with Cricket Powder” is the first recent scientific contribution to the understanding of the nutritional quality and technological effects of the introduction of insect flour in a popular food such as durum wheat pasta.