Nutritional properties of selected edible insects as food for future

Edible insects have been identified as a sustainable source of alternative proteins for achieving food security and the nutritional needs of increasing populations. However, their nutritional profile depends on the species and can be highly variable due to the biodiversity of insects in the ecosystem. This study aimed to determine the nutritional properties of targeted edible insects as future food. A total of eight edible insects of different species and developmental stages were studied, including dubia roach (Blaptica dubia) adult, superworm (Zophobas morio) larvae, locust (Locusta migratoria) adult, silkworm (Bombyx mori) pupae, house cricket (Acheta domesticus) adult, sago palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) larvae, black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae, and grasshopper (Oxya Yezoensis) adult. The samples were analysed for proximate composition, fatty acid profiles and amino acids. Results showed that silkworm (175.45 mg/g) had significantly higher (p<0.05) protein than grasshopper (119.16 mg/g), with the levels of glycine amino acid being the most abundant, comparable to those in conventional meat. The amino acid composition highlights that edible insects are one of the valuable sources of protein with all essential amino acids. The targeted insects are confirmed to provide healthy fat, with more than half of the total fatty acid content being unsaturated fatty acids, except for black soldier fly, which contained high lauric acid. This is further proven by the outstanding nutritional indexes with generally high PUFA/MUFA ratios, but lower omega-6 to omega-3 ratios, atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indexes. The findings reveal that some edible insects could serve as a sustainable source of nutrients for daily requirements to mitigate food insecurity in the future.