Exploring alternative protein sources: Evidence from patents and articles focusing on food markets.

This review considers alternative protein sources through the analysis of food science literature and patents. Data collection was performed from scientific literature and patent documents using the Scopus and National Institute of Industrial Property databases, with a term combination "alternative protein source" and "source* AND protein* AND alternative*". A total of 945 documents were analyzed.

Extraction, physicochemical characterization, and morphological properties of chitin and chitosan from cuticles of edible insects.

As an alternative, cuticles from edible insects was proposed as an unconventional but viable source of chitin and chitosan. The chitin present in the mealworm's (Tenebrio molitor) cuticles was obtained biotechnologically in one step of enzymatic deproteinization and after deacetylated. Differences in the physicochemical characteristics and the properties of the cuticles, chitin, and chitosan were investigated in this study.

Edible insects: An alternative of nutritional, functional and bioactive compounds.

The ingestion of insects has become a new trend in food science approximately since 2013, when the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published a document entitled "Edible Insects: Future Perspectives of Food and Nutrition Security". Since then, a growing number of researches relating insects as a food source has emerged, however, little is known about the composition of their nutrients. This review describes and compares the nutritional composition, functionality and the bioactive compounds present in different insects, as these have been shown to be a source of healthy food with high protein content, significant amount of lipids, vitamins, minerals and fibers, present in the form of chitin in the exoskeleton of the insects.