In a world with an increasing focus on sustainability and cheaper alternatives to expensive food, one solution has slowly begun to gain popularity: insects. Insects as both animal feed and human food are gradually gaining traction in society, as they are a significantly more climate-friendly alternative to high-protein food. Additionally, they are much cheaper than more traditional foods, such as beef. More industrial production of insects can help to secure food in parts of the world where protein-rich food may not be easily accessible. 

The advantages of eating insects are many, but even though this alternative culinary trend is on the rise, many are still having a hard time accepting eating insects. Evidently many people do not see insects as a food source for human consumption – although it is not because the local grocery is selling frozen larvae in the coolers. Many initiatives have been made to sell insects as food – for example insect steaks or insect flour.

In addition to the lack of general acceptance, there is also a worry regarding the safety of eating insects. Insects as a food source for human consumption is a relatively new industry, so are all the allergens correctly identified? Do insects contain unhealthy substances? Can they be carriers of various diseases and the likes?

A new study, conducted by researchers at Aarhus University, reviews new and promising technologies that can examine and analyze the nutritional value of insects in industrial insect farms. Additionally, the technologies can be used to ensure the quality of insects. 

The ambition is that in the future, these technologies can replace the traditional time-consuming, and destructive, methods to analyze insects. The technologies examined in this study are spectroscopy, computer vision and spectral imaging. 

Spectroscopy measures absorption or reflection patterns linked to molecular vibrations, which then allow inference of chemical composition. Different molecules (protein, fat etc.) vibrate at different frequencies, and these frequencies leave a sort of “fingerprint”. By looking at these fingerprints the insects’ nutritional value can be measured very accurately. 

Computer vision is an automated algorithm that examines the insects’ characteristics (such as size, colour, texture, and the structure of the insect) with a camera. All this can be used to assess how suitable they are for being used as a food source. The algorithm can also be trained to detect deformities, signs of disease or stress in the animals. 

Spectral imaging combines spectroscopy and computer vision to provide detailed information regarding the chemical and physical characteristics in the insect, which can be used to assess its nutritional value.

These new technologies give insect farms a way to real-time monitor and ensure the quality of the insects. By using the technologies in unison, it also enables the farms to select the best and most nutritious insects to breed. 

When insect farms can perform selective breeding, the overall yield will drastically improve. It is also a way to ensure that all the worries about eating insects can be eliminated.

In a follow-up study, the researchers move the case from a review study to a legitimate test study. In this study, they actively use near-infrared spectroscopy with chemometric modeling to determine the amino acid value in black soldier flies. The amino acid composition in insects can then be used to determine the overall nutritional value. After using the spectroscopy on the flies, the researchers afterwards studied the black soldier flies’ nutritional value by applying the traditional, destructive lab methods. 

By comparing the results from the spectroscopy imaging with the traditional lab methods, the researchers found that the spectroscopy provided excellent results, thus proving that the spectroscopy is a potentially viable and non-destructive method to determine the quality of insects. 

‘- Insects have great potential as a sustainable protein source, but industrial production requires reliable ways to monitor quality. Our work shows that technologies such as spectroscopy and machine learning can measure the nutritional value of insects quickly and without destroying them. This opens the possibility of real-time quality control and even selective breeding for more nutritious insects,’ says Grum Gebreyesus, assistant professor at Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Aarhus University, and one of the primary investigators of the project.

In the study where the researchers tested the spectroscopy, they note that the study does come with limitations. Firstly, they worked under the assumption that all the black soldier flies were identical. Secondly, they did not research the genetic backgrounds of the individual flies used. 

This means that all the flies got the same kind of analysis even though they could be vastly different in their individual genetics and characteristics. The researchers therefore conclude that further investigation into individual flies is needed to correctly deem spectroscopy as a viable alternative to determining the nutritional value of insects. 

Additionally, they note that future investigation of this matter could include deep learning AI to assist in determining the quality of insects. They also add that future studies could try different diet designs to test a broader model generalization.

One of the challenges of using the new technologies is the insects’ inherent nature and lifecycle. Insects go through several stages in their life cycle - egg, larva, pupa, and adult - and it can be incredibly difficult to correctly identify these stages. Furthermore, the insects, due to their nature, can be troublesome to analyze – for example the review study describes how a larva covered in a natural substance was particularly hard to analyze. 

Additionally, the technologies produce huge datasets that can prove to be complicated – and expensive – to analyze. There is therefore a need to develop industry standards and practices within this emerging food sector that enable companies to realistically adopt these technologies.

In conclusion, the two studies point to several technological methods where both quality and safety can be ensured with the production of insects as human food. With new technologies and methods, the best and most nutritious insects can be used for selective breeding, which ensures both the yield and quality of new insects, while also enabling easier and more systematic detection of defects in the insects.