A number of studies have also investigated their content of minerals, vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids. Fresh yellow mealworm larvae contain about 15% fat and 20% protein. Yellow mealworm ( Tenebrio molitor), an edible insect, is gaining attention as a source of protein for food purposes worldwide. However, proteins extracted from insects and used as a pure ingredient for different food applications might have greater success in terms of acceptance as a human food.

Consumption of insects is practised in many regions, but intact insects or whole insect food products have low acceptance for human consumption in most countries in the Western world. It has been suggested that edible insects can be a source of protein, since they are efficient feed converters with high nutritional value.

In view of the increasing world population and consumer demand for protein, sustainable protein production with low environmental impacts will be a serious future challenge. These results demonstrate that the functional properties of YMPE can be modified for different food applications.

The rheological tests indicated that temperature, sample concentration, addition of salt and enzyme, incubation time and pH alterations influenced the elastic modulus of yellow mealworm protein extract (YMPE). Lower solubility was observed in 0.5 M NaCl solution compared with distilled water. The lowest protein solubility in distilled water solution was found between pH 4 and 5, and increased with either increasing or decreasing pH. The protein extract was a good source of essential amino acids. The true protein content of the protein extract was about 75%, with an extraction rate of 70% under optimised extraction conditions using 0.25 M NaOH, a NaOH solution:ethanol defatted worm ratio of 15:1 mL/g, 40☌ for 1 h and extraction twice. The freeze-dried yellow mealworm larvae contained around 33% fat, 51% crude protein and 43% true protein on a dry matter basis. A protocol for extraction of yellow mealworm larvae proteins was established, conditions were evaluated and the resulting protein extract was characterised.

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