Open AccessNitrogen-to-Protein Conversion Factors for Three Edible Insects: Tenebrio molitor, Alphitobius diaperinus, and Hermetia illucens
Author(s) -
Renske H. Janssen,
JeanPaul Vincken,
L.A.M. van den Broek,
Vincenzo Fogliano
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of agricultural and food chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.203
H-Index - 297
eISSN - 1520-5118
pISSN - 0021-8561
DOI - 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b00471
Subject(s) - hermetia illucens , larva , conversion factor , insect , nitrogen , biology , food science , extraction (chemistry) , chemistry , botany , chromatography , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics
Insects are considered a nutritionally valuable source of alternative proteins, and their efficient protein extraction is a prerequisite for large-scale use. The protein content is usually calculated from total nitrogen using the nitrogen-to-protein conversion factor (Kp) of 6.25. This factor overestimates the protein content, due to the presence of nonprotein nitrogen in insects. In this paper, a specific Kp of 4.76 ± 0.09 was calculated for larvae from Tenebrio molitor, Alphitobius diaperinus, and Hermetia illucens, using amino acid analysis. After protein extraction and purification, a Kp factor of 5.60 ± 0.39 was found for the larvae of three insect species studied. We propose to adopt these Kp values for determining protein content of insects to avoid overestimation of the protein content.