Environmentally Friendly and Rapid Quality Control Methods for the Sustainable Edible Insect Industry

The edible insect industry produces ingredients that are utilised in both animal feed and human food. However, the quality control of these ingredients and products is carried out using traditional routine chemical analysis, which generates waste and is considered both costly and time-consuming. Therefore, these techniques are not considered suitable for a sustainable and green industry. Consequently, the edible insect industry requires environmentally friendly methods that can be used in quality control along the insect supply and value chains. Most of these methods are based on the use of molecular spectroscopy and optical sensors (near- and mid-infrared, Raman spectroscopy) that allow for the large-scale analysis of chemical composition, authentication, and traceability of the products and processes, helping the real-time data collection and management decision tools. This paper provides an overview of the use of rapid and objective techniques in different examples associated with edible insects.