Mealworms as food ingredient: sensory investigation of a model system

The use of insects as food is a sustainable alternative to meat and as a protein source is fullycomparable to meat, fish and soybeans. The next step is to make insects available for use in the morewidespread production of food and meals. Sensory attributes are of great importance in being able toincrease the understanding of insects as an ingredient in cooking and production. In this pilot study,mealworms were used as the main ingredient in a model system, where the aim was to evaluate theimpact on sensory properties of changing particle size, oil/water ratio and salt content of the insectsusing a factorial design. Twelve different samples were produced according to the factorial design.Further, the effect of adding an antioxidant agent was evaluated. Sensory analysis and instrumentalanalyses were performed on the samples. Particle size significantly influenced the sensory attributesappearance, odor, taste and texture, but not flavor, whereas salt content affected taste and flavor.The viscosity was affected by the particle size and instrumentally measured color was affected byparticle size and oil content. The addition of the antioxidant agent decreased the changes in color,rancidity and separation.