Edible insects are repeatedly being considered as underutilized food candidate due to their high nutritional value. Although frequent acceptance of whole insects to consumer is still challenging, incorporation of insects in food as powder or paste has been suggested to increase their acceptability.Hence Acheta domesticus and Gryllus assimilis were subjected to freeze drying, oven drying, and blanching to acquire a clear insight on the impact of the processing methods on the nutritional and physical properties of both species. Result showed that these three methods had limited effects on the proximate composition, fatty acid and amino acid profile but had significant impact on other parameters for both species. Vitamin B12 in A. domesticus did not change but G. asiimilis changed due to the treatment. Freeze drying showed better lightness (L* value) and lower browning index for both cricket species. Oven drying and blanching resulted in lower lipid oxidation values than freeze drying for both cricket species; though lipid oxidation was in all cases well below the rejection limit. Esters were the predominant group of volatile compound in freeze and oven dried cricket while least amount of volatiles were found in blanched cricket.The volatiles resulted from fatty acid oxidation were higher in freeze dried crickets, while Maillard reaction products were found in oven dried samples. Although freeze drying showed higher colour quality, oven drying exerted superior effect in terms of nutritional and flavour characteristics followed by blanching treatment.

Fruits and vegetables are important sources of nutrients for mankind. Among the various fruits available in Bangladesh, mango occupies a vital place in the human nutrition for its delicious taste and higher nutritious value. In this study, five mango varieties, viz. Fazli, Amrupali, Langra, Gopalbogh and Misribogh, were tested to evaluate the quality of these mango varieties available in Northern Bangladesh. Physiochemical characteristics, including moisture, ash, total carbohydrates, total solids, total soluble solids (TSS), pH, acidity, total sugars and ascorbic acid contents were evaluated. The results showed that there were significant (p< 0.05) differences among mangoes of all varieties for physicochemical parameters. In case of proximate composition, the mango variety Amrupali showed the highest ash content (2.34±0.15) and fat content (1.18±0.13). Protein content (0.94±0.12) and total fiber (2.67%) content was shown to be the highest by Gopalbogh and Misribogh, respectively. The selected mango varieties contained TSS of 12.87~20.55oBrix, pH of 4.45~4.67, titrable acidity of 0.07~0.42%, reducing sugar of 8.40~15.43%, non-reducing sugar of 9.24~10.48%, and total sugarof 18.88~25.12%. The study findings would be helpful for the consumers, dietitian and industry policymakers.

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Addition of edible insects to food products may improve the nutritional status but can also influence their techno-functional properties. This study investigates the impact of supplementing wheat flour by cricket flour or paste at different levels (5–15%) on the rheological and textural properties of flour, dough, and baked chapatti. Addition of freeze-dried cricket flour resulted in the highest water absorption. The storage modulus increased at higher level (10–15%) of supplementation to wheat flour indicating an increased dough consistency. Similarly, biaxial extension of the dough showed an increased resistance to extension and decreased extensibility at higher level of supplementation due to a reduced strength of the gluten network. Uniaxial extension of baked chapatti showed less extensible and harder chapatti with the addition of a higher amount of cricket flour or paste. At lower level (5%), incorporation of cricket flour resulted in chapatti with textural properties comparable to the reference. Oven dried cricket powder is suggested as the best option for incorporating in chapatti dough to improve food security in Asian Countries.

The effect of temperature and loading density on drying kinetics of wheat were studied experimentally in a laboratory-scale cabinet dryer. The study was conducted at drying temperatures of 40, 45, and 50 o C with loading density of 2.12 and 4.24kg/m 2 at constant air velocity of 0.6 m/sec. The Henderson andPabis model was applied to fit the drying conditions. Results of study revealed that drying rate constant gradually decreased with the increasing of loading density of wheat. The effective moisture diffusivity for wheat was increased with the increasing of drying temperature, and it was in the range of 3.27×10 -11 cm 2 /sec to 7.95×10 -11 cm 2 /sec while the activation energy of 17.64 kcal/ g-mole was found from the Arrhenius equation.

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Aspects of entomophagy and entomotherapy of ethnic people in Bangladesh are documented as this practice is believed to ensure future food security. A comprehensive survey was conducted involving six insect-consuming ethnic groups: Garo, Chakma, Tanchangya, Marma, Mro, and Tripura. A total of 36 insect species of 19 families and 7 orders were consumed by them. In terms of species, those of the Coleoptera ranked highest (14), followed by Hymenoptera (7), Orthoptera (5), Hemiptera (5) and Blattodea (3 species); one species each belonged to Ephemeroptera and Odonata. The field cricket (Brachytrupes sp.), short-horned grasshopper (Oxya sp.) and giant water bug (Lethocerus indicus) were most preferred, reaching respective acceptance levels of 84, 83, and 79% by the respondents of all ethnic groups taken together. The total number of species used as human food by the Chakma, Marma, Mro, Tanchangya, Tripura, and Garo was 32, 22, 29, 21, 26, and 14, respectively. Nine species were used to treat coughs, fevers, nocturnal emissions, burning and gastroenteritis. People gathered the insects mainly from the insects’ natural habitat and consumed them as snacks or part of a meal. The availability of edible insects depended on the season. Despite consumer demand, insect consumption is decreasing, apparently due to the unavailability of insects because of the random application of pesticides and fertilisers. The top three entomophagy constraints include lack of knowledge to farm insects, to harvest them, and to effectively store and preserve them. By overcoming these constraints, practices of entomophagy might play additional role in increasing future food security in Bangladesh through developing edible insect industry.