Enzymatic processing of Black soldier fly fats to increase their value as food or feed ingredients

Abstract

Due to the incoming expected shortages of animal and vegetal proteins, sustainable alternative sources of protein focus the interest of industrial companies. Among the different possible sources, insect protein is one of the most promising and first productions at industrial scale have already started during the last years. 1900 insect species are eaten in the world, but two of them are particularly studied and being commercialized in Europe: Tenebrio molitor and Hermetia illucens L. (Black Soldier Fly). Whatever the specie, to be cost-competitive and to produce an affordable protein, this emerging industry must valorize as well as possible all the co-products of this production and especially the lipid part.

This study is part of this perspective and aims to define how a partial enzymatic hydrolysis of the fat extracted after the harvesting of larvae of black soldier flies, could, by modification of the ratio of fatty acids, mono-, di- and triglycerides increase its commercial value especially in the field of the food and feed industries. Different commercial lipases were studied and, thanks to an experimental design, some of the key parameters (time of reaction, concentration of enzyme and temperature) were optimized for the two most efficient ones.