Designing edible insect proteins for food applications: Processing-Structure-Function relationships, product performance and safety trade-offs

Edible insect proteins are increasingly investigated as alternative food ingredients, but their technological value depends on more than protein content alone. This review integrates evidence primarily published from 2015 onwards using a processing-structure-function framework that links raw-material variability, protein recovery and modification, techno-functional behaviour, food-matrix performance, and safety-related trade-offs. Insect species, developmental stage, rearing substrate, lipid and chitin contents, and post-harvest history strongly influence protein quality, digestibility, extractability and functionality. Defatting, wet or dry fractionation, pH treatment, ultrasound, high-pressure processing, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation and controlled Maillard conjugation can modify protein conformation, aggregation, surface properties and peptide size, but improvements in solubility, emulsification, foaming or gelation are condition-dependent and may be accompanied by colour, flavour, bitterness, oxidative or allergenic constraints. Product performance is therefore matrix-specific: cereal foods tolerate relatively heterogeneous ingredients, structured foods require compatibility with network-forming proteins, whereas beverages and emulsions generally demand more refined and dispersible fractions. Bioactive peptide evidence remains dominated by chemical and in vitro assays and should not be equated with demonstrated physiological efficacy. Food safety, allergenicity, regulation and consumer acceptance should be integrated into ingredient design from the outset. Future progress will depend on standardised raw materials, reproducible processing, real-food validation and application-specific ingredient specifications rather than a single universal insect-protein ingredient.