Product development and environmental impact of an insect-based milk alternative

Abstract

The world's population will drastically increase by 2050, thus the food demand and the environmental impact of food systems will increase. It is urgent to define alternative sources of high impacting foods like animal-derived products. Dairy products are in the top animal protein sources; they provide important nutrients such as fats, calcium, vitamin D and B12. Besides being a complex and unique product, bovine milk has a great environmental burden, which is accounted to the direct emissions of cows and feed production. This study aims to develop an alternative to bovine milk from Tenebrio molitor larvae with a lower environmental impact and similar nutritional profile. Pilot scale trials identified a potential recipe and process to develop an insect-based milk alternative. The development of the protype was challenging due to the enzymatic browning and weak fractionation. The developed prototype contained 5.76 % fats and 1.19 % proteins and accounted for 59.1 % of the environmental burden of standardized bovine milk. 1 kg of fat and protein corrected insect milk was responsible for 0.76 kg CO2eq and required 10.55 MJ of energy for production. This pioneer prototype exhibits the flexibility of insects as food source and exposes their potential for product development.

Keywords

• Insect milk
• Life cycle assessment
• Product development
• Pulse electric fields
• Tenebrio molitor