Oxidative stability in edible insects: Where is the knowledge frontier?

Background: Edible insects and insect-based products represent ways to ensure food security, which might be threatened owing to population growth, and reduce the potential environmental impacts caused by animal-origin protein. Despite the increasing interest of consumers, industries, and researchers in edible insects and insectbased products, the current literature neglects some aspects associated with macromolecule oxidation in these products. In particular, lipid and protein oxidation decrease the nutritional value and overall quality of such food products, leading to economic losses. Scope and approach: This review highlighted the main protective barriers (e.g., heat processing and vitamin E content) and challenges (e.g., low-efficiency processes) related to the oxidation of edible insects and insect-based products. Furthermore, we presented hypotheses regarding these oxidative processes, highlighted research gaps, and suggested strategies to overcome lipid and protein oxidation in edible insects and insect-based products. Key findings and conclusions: Our findings indicate that the main causes of oxidation are the product composition, methods for killing insects, and processing and cooking approaches. The lipid, protein, and vitamin compositions in edible insects and insect-based products are crucial for determining their oxidative stability. In addition, heating techniques for killing or drying insects are suggested to decrease oxidation, whereas freezing and CO2 utilization promote oxidation. The effects of cooking time and temperature on oxidation were poorly explained. Finally, literature on the application of innovative strategies to reduce oxidation in edible insects and insectbased products, such as the use of natural antioxidants, active packaging, and emerging nonthermal technologies, remains scarce and further studies and processing optimization are required in this research direction.