The VTT Technical Research Center of Finland has developed food ingredients from insects such as crickets and mealworms in an effort to solve food scarcity and world hunger. The food nutrition study have especially found mealworms and crickets to be suitable as raw materials of meatballs and falafel. The food process has healthy benefits as it decreases fat content and increases protein in food.
The basis of the food nutrition study was to develop food ingredients from mealworms and crickets. These insects are seen as especially suitable as substitute for meat due to their structure and flavor. In particular, these raw materials could provide the basis of meatballs and falafel.
Although the findings have yet to be published in a peer reviewed journal, the technical information generated already have the method on the effective use of certain insects as raw materials for various foods. The research to end world hunger, have taken mealworms and crickets and developed a special method to easily produce insect elements with varying flavors and textures. The methodology uses fine fractioning, which enables the use of small amounts of the outer shell of insects for one type of food and other coarser texture for other types of food, the Digital Journal says.
The process renders two types of textures which are rough on the tongue and have a strong meat-like taste, and a milder flavor high in insect shell levels.There are also health benefits through the process such as removal of fat, and increase in protein content. The process paves the way for a large scale production of insect-based food raw ingredients such as meatballs and falafel.
According to the Science Daily , although around 2 billion people worldwide add insects in their daily diet, the U.S. and Europe have regulations with regards to the use of insects as food. Some surveys suggest that more people are open to using insects as substitute to commercial meat. EU legislation is predicted to change eventually, allowing the farming of insects to become a business activity and hopefully solve world hunger.