Method of producing insect powder

Abstract

To provide a simplified method of producing insect powder.SOLUTION: A method of producing insect powder comprises a step A of pressing an insect raw material and a step B of drying the pressed material from the step A.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for producing insect powder. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, eating insects has been attracting attention worldwide.

[0003] The environmental impact and cost of raising (producing) insect food is low compared to other protein sources such as livestock. Furthermore, insect food is high in protein and has excellent nutritional value, so it has been attracting attention in recent years due to the growing global environmental awareness.

[0004] On the other hand, because people may be put off by the appearance of edible insects, they are often powdered and then processed into food. In general, such insect powder is produced by washing insects, dehydrating, drying, squeezing oil, and then pulverizing them.

[0005] In addition, when processing insects that are high in lipids, particularly those with a lipid content of more than 20%, into powder, a process for breaking down aggregated powder is required.

[0006] From the viewpoint of reducing costs, there is a strong demand for further simplifying the above-mentioned manufacturing process. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a more simplified method for producing insect powder. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] As a result of intensive research to solve the above problems, the inventors have found that by first carrying out a squeezing step after appropriately washing the insects, it is possible to omit steps such as the oil extraction step and the crushing step, thereby reducing costs and shortening the working time. Based on this finding, the inventors have further researched and completed the present invention.

[0009] That is, the present invention provides the following method for producing insect powder. Section 1. A step A of squeezing the insect raw material; and The method for producing insect powder comprises step B of drying the compressed matter obtained in step A. Section 2. Item 2. The method according to item 1, further comprising a step C of pulverizing the dried product obtained in step B. Section 3. Item 3. The method according to item 1 or 2, wherein the insect raw material is a cricket. Effect of the Invention

[0010] The method for producing insect powder according to the present invention described above can produce insect powder through simplified steps compared to conventional production methods. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of the method for producing insect powder of the present invention. [Diagram 2] Lipid content evaluation results for Examples and Comparative Examples. [Diagram 3] 1 is a comparison data of manufacturing costs and working times of the examples and comparative examples. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] In this specification, "containing" is a concept that encompasses all of "comprise," "consist essentially of," and "consist only of." In addition, in this specification, when a numerical range is shown as "A to B," it means A or more and B or less.

[0013] The method for producing insect powder of the present invention includes, in order, step A of compressing an insect raw material, and step B of drying the compressed matter obtained in step A.

[0014] The insects used as raw materials are not particularly limited and may be any known insects used for food, including those from the orders Coleoptera (Coleoptera), Lepidoptera (Lepidoptera), Diptera (Diptera), Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera), Hemiptera (Hemiptera), Orthoptera (Orthoptera), and Odonata (Odonata).

[0015] However, from the viewpoint of superior nutritional value, it is preferable to use insects of the order Orthoptera, and it is particularly preferable to use insects of the family Gryllidae in the order Orthoptera.

[0016] It is preferable to wash the culled insects prior to step A. There is no particular limitation on the specific washing method, and any known method can be widely adopted. Specific examples include boiling.

[0017] (Process A) In step A, the insect raw material is pressed. The pressing operation can be performed using a wide variety of known pressing systems, and is not particularly limited. Specifically, any pressing system such as single screw or twin screw pressing (Angel type twin screw pressing), filter pressing (Choquenet type filter pressing), platen pressing, etc. can be used.

[0018] The conditions of the squeezing operation are appropriately determined according to the type of insect used, and are not particularly limited. For example, the pressure conditions in squeezing are preferably 30 MPa or more, more preferably 35 MPa or more. The pressure conditions are preferably 100 MPa or less, more preferably MPa or less. The pressure time is also preferably, for example, 1 minute or more, more preferably 2 minutes or more. The pressure time is preferably 30 minutes or less, more preferably 10 minutes or less, and even more preferably 5 minutes or less.

[0019] By carrying out the expression, the oil content in the insect raw material is preferably reduced to less than 20% by mass, and more preferably to 19% by mass or less, of the oil content in the insect raw material when the expression is not carried out (before expression).

[0020] In conventional insect powder manufacturing methods, in order to obtain low-fat insect powder such as low-fat cricket powder, it is common to carry out an oil squeezing step after the dehydration step of the insect raw material, but in the method of the present invention, by providing a squeezing step, the dehydration step and the oil squeezing step can be integrated and steps can be omitted. In addition, in the case of high-fat insect raw material, a crushing step was required because the powder is prone to agglomeration, but in the manufacturing method of the present invention, the squeezing step is provided to remove lipid components, so the dehydration step and the crushing step can be omitted.

[0021] (Process B) In step B, the squeezed product obtained in step A is dried.

[0022] The drying method is not particularly limited, and any known drying method applicable to food can be widely used. Drying the compressed product by roasting is also a preferred embodiment.

[0023] Drying conditions can be appropriately determined depending on the type and amount of the insect raw material used, etc. By drying, the moisture content is preferably reduced to 20% by mass or less, and more preferably to 15% by mass or less.

[0024] (Process C) It is also preferable to further provide a step C after the above steps A and B. In the step C, the dried product obtained in the above step B is pulverized.

[0025] As the grinding method, a wide variety of known methods used in the food industry, such as dry grinding, thin-type grinding, jet mill grinding, high-speed rotary grinding, and airflow grinding, can be used, and there is no particular limitation.

[0026] The size of the powder obtained by pulverization can be appropriately set depending on the type of insect raw material or the processing application of the obtained insect powder.

[0027] As shown in Figure 1, in conventional methods for producing insect powder, for example, in order to obtain low-fat insect powder, it is necessary to extract lipids from the dried raw material (Figure 1A), but according to the production method of the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously carry out dehydration and oil extraction steps, for example, by squeezing after washing. Also, when using high-fat insect raw materials, they are prone to aggregation during production in conventional methods, making it necessary to provide a crushing step (Figure 1B), but with the production method of the present invention, a squeezing step is provided first, making it possible to dehydrate and squeeze out lipids, and therefore no crushing step is necessary.

[0028] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to these examples, and it is needless to say that the present invention can be embodied in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. EXAMPLES

[0029] Hereinafter, the embodiments of the present invention will be described more specifically based on examples, but the present invention is not limited to these.

[0030] Example 1 After washing the raw crickets, they were pressed at 35 MPa for 2 minutes. The pressed bodies were placed in a roaster and roasted until the temperature reached 110°C with the same heat setting. The roasted products were then crushed.

[0031] Comparative Example 1 The same cricket raw material as in Example 1 was washed and centrifuged, then roasted at the same heat setting until the temperature reached 110°C. The resulting roasted material was crushed and then disintegrated.

[0032] Lipid content evaluation test The mass (mass%) of lipids in each of the cricket powders of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 was measured by the Soxhlet extraction method. The results are shown in FIG.

[0033] Manufacturing cost and work time evaluation The production costs and operation times required for the production of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 are shown in Fig. 3. The results are shown as a ratio when the production costs and operation times in Comparative Example 1 are set to 1.

Claims

1. A step A of squeezing the insect raw material; and The method for producing insect powder comprises step B of drying the compressed matter obtained in step A.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step C of pulverizing the dried product obtained in the step B.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the insect material is a cricket.

Images