Lucia Aquilanti

Polytechnic University of Marche,Italy

Abstract Title: Yeast-mediated hydrolyzation of cricket powder to produce novel ingredients for bakery application

Biography:

Lucia Aquilanti if Full Professor in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Microbiology at the Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche (Italy). She has wide expertise in food microbiology, fermentation processes, and development of sustainable food systems. Her research activity focuses, among other topics, on the valorization of alternative protein sources, including insects and agri-food by-products, through microbial biotechnologies. She is actively involved in multidisciplinary research projects aimed at improving food functionality, safety, and consumer acceptance of insect-based ingredients and foods. Her research activity is documented by more than 200 publications indexed in Scopus.

Research Interest:

The increasing demand for sustainable protein sources has intensified interest in edible insects such as Acheta domesticus. This study investigates the potential of selected yeast strains to produce functional ingredients through the hydrolyzation of a commercially available food-grade cricket powder. Laboratory-scale cricket-based hydrolysates were produced by fermenting a commercial powder purchased from a local producer with monocultures of 50 selected yeasts under controlled conditions (25 °C, 72 h, in agitation 300 rpm). The assayed yeast strains, ascribed to the following species Yarrovia lipolytica, Debaromyces hansenii, Aerobasidium namibiae, Metschnikowia chrysosphulae, Candida humilis, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, had previously been isolated from food sources of vegetal origin, and maintained at the culture collection of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche. The fermentation process, carried out in 250-mL glass flasks containing 80 mL of a mixture made with 20 g of insect powder and 60 mL of water) was monitored through microbiological (viable plate counts of yeasts, total mesophilic aerobes, Enterobacteraceae, sporeformers) and physicochemical analyses (pH determination with a pHmeter at 0, 6, 24, 48 and 72 h of fermentation). For each assayed strain, the kitinase activity was evealuted after 72 h fermentation through a rapid plate assay. The best performing 3 yeast strains were selected for larger scale production of insect powder hydrolysates in 1-L flasks under the conditions detailed above. At the end of fermentation, the hydrolysates were chemically characterized for: pH, gross composition (fat, protein, charbohydrates, free fatty acids, free amminoacids, chrabohydrates), chitin, color, VOCs profile. Overall, yeast-mediated hydrolysation was proven to represent a promising strategy to enhance the nutritional properties of insect-derived ingredients, supporting the development of safe, acceptable, and sustainable novel foods.