Can we make milk from insects?

Introduction

Many people meet their protein needs by eating meat. Raising livestock for food requires land, water, and energy. Current practices cause about 15 percent of the human-made greenhouse gases. They use about 70 percent of global freshwater resources. Raising livestock also leads to soil erosion, water pollution, and deforestation. As the world population grows, these negative impacts will increase.
Scientists want to find food options that are healthy and sustainable. That means the food source meets current needs without damaging the environment. One possibility is edible insects. Eating insects is a common practice in many countries. Scientists estimate that people already eat over 2,000 insect species. Many of these insects are a good source of protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. An example is lesser mealworm larvae. These baby beetles are very nutritious. They also contain chitin. Chitin is a substance that makes up the skeletons of insects and crustaceans. People can use chitin to make useful products, such as bioplastics and medication.
In some parts of the world, people are not comfortable eating insects. But they might be willing to if the insects were less visible. That is why we wanted to develop an insect-based milk using lesser mealworm larvae. We also wanted to use the leftover parts to make a chitin-based film. Then we could determine how nutritious and sustainable the milk is.
Methods

We took dead mealworm larvae and divided them into samples. We pretreated each sample with heat, a preservative, or both. We used three different preservatives. After pretreatment, we put the larvae into a kitchen mixer with a solution to homogenize them. We poured the resulting mixture through a cloth made from nylon mesh. This separated the exoskeletons from the liquid. Then we compared the color of the liquids to each other and a control.
We selected the sample with the color closest to white. We added ingredients to make the milk, including canola oil. This oil changed the fat content, texture, and color of the insect milk. We made four different versions with different amounts of canola oil. Then we analyzed the milks’ protein content, fat content, color, and particle size. We compared the protein and fat content and the milks’ color to various plant-based milks.
We treated the mealworm exoskeletons with chemicals to collect the chitin. We transformed the chitin into chitosan by heating it with a different solution. We washed the chitosan, let it air-dry overnight, and made it into an edible film. Then we analyzed the film’s properties, including color and structure, and compared them to crustacean-based films.
Results

We found that the lightest-colored samples resulted from pretreating the insects with heat. In terms of nutrition, the mealworm milk had a higher protein content than the oat, almond, and cashew milks (Fig. 1). The control had less fat, but adding the canola oil caused the insect milk to have a higher fat content than the plant-based milks.
We discovered that the color and particle sizes differed for the different milks. We noticed that the greater the amount of canola oil, the whiter the milk appeared. After storing the milks for 10 days, we found that an intermediate amount of canola oil (3%) was the best formulation. It was more stable, showing a smaller particle size.
Our analysis of the chitosan films showed some differences. The insect-based film had a similar structure to the crustacean-based film. But the crustacean-based film was more white in color (Fig. 2). The insect-based film was a light brown. The crustacean-based film was also slightly stronger than the insect-based film.

Discussion

The results of our study showed that we can use lesser mealworms to make a healthy milk alternative. Insect-based milk provides protein to people’s diets the same way that plant-based milks already do. But we need to make sure to select the correct pretreatment and oil content to ensure the best color. That’s because people prefer milk to be white like cow’s milk. If a milk alternative is too brown, people may not be willing to buy it. Adding oil to the insect-based milk affected its color. This is most likely because of its particle size. Milks with smaller particles have a larger surface area. A larger surface area results in more light reflection, producing a white color.
Our study shows that insect-based milk can be a sustainable milk option. Insects need less land, water, and energy to grow. Also, making films from the leftover exoskeletons increases the milk’s sustainability. That’s because it minimizes the amount of waste. Based on our analysis, lesser mealworms have the potential to provide nutrition and environmentally-friendly products in the future.

Conclusion

Having the right amount of protein and fat in your diet is important for proper growth and development. But a healthy environment is also important! Your food choices can positively impact the environment. How? You can reduce the amount of animal products you consume. Instead, you can choose meals with lentils, beans, tofu, and plant-based meat substitutes. You can also use the plant-based milks that are currently available. Trying new foods can be a lot of fun, too! Consider getting together with friends to taste test some plant-based foods or try a new vegetarian recipe.