Posted on 09/30/2025 8:53:10 AM PDT by Red Badger
Burgers that include insects blended with meat can be a tasty way to eat healthier, help the environment, and still get high levels of protein. (Photo by Charoen Krung Photography on Shutterstock)
===============================================================
Two billion people regularly feast on bugs around the world. Is it time for the rest of us to adapt our diets?
In A Nutshell
* Researchers are testing burgers that blend insect protein with meat or plants.
* Lab studies suggest up to 25% meat replacement is possible without losing taste.
* Insects offer protein with lower land, water, and emissions than livestock.
* Consumer acceptance, regulation, and cost remain the biggest barriers.
======================================================================
MEDFORD, Mass. — Crickets in sausages. Mealworms blended into beef patties. Grasshoppers ground up with kidney beans. These aren’t “Fear Factor” challenges nor novelty snacks marketed to adventurous eaters. They’re prototypes in a growing field of research aimed at solving one of the food industry’s biggest puzzles: how to feed a growing global population without destroying the planet.
Researchers David Kaplan (Tufts University) and David Julian McClements (University of Massachusetts) conducted a review of existing research, which shows that hybrid foods combining insects with traditional meat or plant proteins could offer a more sustainable alternative to conventional meat. However, cost and scalability remain major obstacles.
More than 2 billion people worldwide already eat insects regularly, but Western countries have been slow to adopt them despite their environmental advantages. Raising insects for food produces far lower greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and land and water use compared to livestock farming, according to a United Nations report. Many edible insects also pack high levels of protein, unsaturated fats, dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
The challenge? Most Americans and Europeans find the idea of eating bugs revolting.
Insects in a burger: Silkworm pupae deep-fried for eating as food in burger
Would you eat a burger that was made from insects like silkworm pupae? (Photo by nicemyphoto on Shutterstock)
=====================================================================
Hybrid Diets Could Make Idea Of Insects Easier To Swallow
Rather than asking consumers to bite into a whole cricket, food manufacturers are developing hybrid products where insect ingredients are blended with familiar proteins and disguised in foods like burgers, nuggets, and protein bars.
Researchers have successfully created meat burger alternatives using a blend of mealworm flour, seitan, soy proteins, oat flakes, and binding agents. By adjusting the ratios of these ingredients, they produced hybrid burgers with texture, mouthfeel, and flavor resembling animal meat products.
Some studies suggest up to 25% replacement is possible in specific products like sausages without major sensory changes. One research team developed high-protein meat patties for the Indonesian market by combining Javanese grasshoppers with kidney beans and elephant foot yam, creating products with appearances and textures similar to conventional beef burgers.
Other hybrid research has focused on enhancing rather than replacing meat. Adding small amounts of insect protein raised phenolic acid levels, compounds linked to potential health effects, though no direct health outcomes have been confirmed. Another study showed that incorporating black soldier fly larvae into meat analogs created softer textures with lower cooking losses compared to pure beef patties.
Why Should We Be Eating Insects Anyway?
The review, published in Frontiers in Science, examines multiple approaches to creating sustainable protein sources beyond conventional animal agriculture. Besides insect hybrids, scientists are exploring combinations of plant proteins with cultivated meat cells grown in bioreactors, fungal mycelia that naturally form fibrous structures, and proteins produced through microbial fermentation.
Each alternative protein source has distinct advantages and drawbacks. Plant proteins are abundant and relatively cheap but often lack the sensory qualities consumers expect from meat. Cultivated meat cells can accurately mimic animal meat but remain too expensive and difficult to produce at scale. Mycelia have good nutritional profiles and natural fibrous textures but still struggle to match meat properties precisely.
These technologies vary in their development stages. Plant-based and mycelium-based products have reached higher technology readiness levels, with some already commercially available, while cultivated meat products remain at earlier stages of development. Combining different protein sources addresses the weaknesses of each individual approach. Plant proteins provide economic bulk and texture, while insect ingredients contribute specific flavors, nutrients, and functional properties that plants lack.
Some researchers are moving beyond whole insects or insect flour toward cultivating insect cells in bioreactors, similar to how cultivated meat is produced from animal cells. Insect cells adapt to a wider range of environmental conditions than mammalian cells, requiring lower process control and significantly reducing production costs. The pharmaceutical industry has already scaled insect cell production for therapeutics, providing precedent for advanced manufacturing. However, this approach remains conceptual rather than commercial.
A plate of fried crickets.
Crickets are a fantastic source of protein. (Photo by wk1003mike on Shutterstock)
================================================================
What Stands in the Way
Consumer acceptance remains the largest barrier in Western countries, driven by food neophobia and disgust reactions. Many people associate insects with uncleanliness or disease, despite their nutritional merits.
Safety concerns also require attention. Some insect species may trigger allergic reactions in certain individuals, particularly those with shellfish allergies, since insects and crustaceans share similar proteins. Proper processing and labeling will be necessary.
Regulatory approval varies widely by country. While some insect-based foods have gained approval in parts of Europe and Asia, many nations still lack clear frameworks for evaluating and authorizing insect ingredients in processed foods.
Cost and scalability present additional obstacles. Although insect farming is more environmentally friendly than livestock production, establishing large-scale insect farms and processing facilities requires substantial investment. Researchers identify insect escapes as a potential concern that needs addressing, though documented cases of environmental damage remain limited.
Despite these barriers, the environmental math is hard to ignore. Livestock production drives greenhouse gas emissions, soil depletion, water pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss on a massive scale. Insect farming offers a way to produce protein-dense food with a fraction of those environmental costs. Whether Western consumers can overcome their aversion to eating bugs may determine how much of a difference these hybrid products can make.
Hybrid Burger Prototypes
Inspired by lab research, here are three hybrid blends scientists are exploring. These are not commercial recipes, but examples of how insects could be paired with familiar foods:
Mealworm & Seitan Burger: Mealworm flour combined with seitan, soy proteins, oat flakes, and binders to create patties with a meatlike bite. Grasshopper & Bean Patty: Javanese grasshoppers blended with kidney beans and elephant foot yam to mimic the look and texture of beef. Beef & Black Soldier Fly Mix: Traditional beef patties fortified with 5–25% black soldier fly larvae, producing softer textures and reduced cooking loss.
Note: These examples reflect laboratory trials, not market-ready products.
Paper Summary
Methodology
Researchers conducted a systematic review of existing studies on alternative protein sources, including plant-based products, mycelium-based products, cultivated meat, microbial fermentation products, and insect-based products. The authors analyzed the benefits, challenges, and technology readiness levels of each alternative protein source, then examined studies that combined different protein sources to create hybrid food products. The review covered multiple types of hybrid products, including meat-plant, cultivated meat-plant, mycelium-plant, and insect-plant combinations.
Results
In controlled laboratory settings, researchers created insect-plant hybrid burgers with physicochemical and sensory attributes resembling animal meat burgers. Research using mealworm larvae blended with soy protein created fibrous meat alternatives with protein content and hardness similar to animal meat. Studies demonstrated that in specific products like sausages, up to 25% of meat could be replaced with insect proteins without substantially altering desirable sensory attributes. Hybrid products containing insects showed improvements in some nutritional metrics, including increased phenolic acid content. Research on insect-meat hybrids found that incorporating black soldier fly larvae into meat products created softer textures and reduced cooking losses, with products containing 25% insects showing properties most similar to conventional meat. These results reflect laboratory-scale testing rather than commercial production. The review also examined cultivated meat-plant hybrids and mycelium-plant hybrids, with some mycelium-based products already commercially available.
Limitations
The authors note that alternative protein technologies exist at varying technology readiness levels. Plant-based and mycelium-based products have reached higher readiness levels (TRL 4-9), while cultivated-based products remain at earlier stages (TRL 4-7). Many hybrid products have only been tested in laboratory or small-scale settings rather than commercial production. Consumer acceptance studies remain limited, particularly for insect-containing hybrids in Western markets. The review acknowledges that production costs, scalability, and regulatory approval remain substantial barriers for most hybrid products. Long-term health effects of consuming these products have not been extensively studied. The authors also note that more research is needed on potential allergenicity, safety concerns, and optimal processing methods for insect ingredients.
Funding and Disclosures
David Julian McClements received funding from the United States Department of Agriculture through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station programs, and from the nonprofit think tank Good Food Institute. David L. Kaplan received funding from the USDA, the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, the Good Food Institute, and the nonprofit foundation New Harvest. McClements serves on the scientific advisory board of several food companies and owns some patents on colloidal delivery systems for bioactive agents. Kaplan declared no financial conflicts of interest. The reviewer Mark J. Post declared a past co-authorship with author Kaplan.
Publication Information
Kaplan DL and McClements DJ. “Hybrid alternative protein-based foods: designing a healthier and more sustainable food supply.” Frontiers in Science.
DOI: 10.3389/fsci.2025.1599300. Published September 29, 2025.
I consider most all fast food places just like this, I will not eat their slop.
A few protein bars if on a trip.
Sounds like David L. Kaplan and David Julian McClements (University of Massachusetts, Amherst have been playing with some of that white powder they found in a locker?.
You can have mine.
No!🖕🏼
Maybe but definitely not up to 25% which was suggested as the acceptable maximum for insects.
I think Mickey Dee’s has been doing that for years. 😆
That’s odd. Why wouldn’t they just retake the scene?
it was originally shot in B&W and the color reference wouldn’t have made a difference.
it wasn’t until he found out it was actually in color that he saw the predicament that he was in...
this is all according to AI of course... autonomous ignorance.
hehehe
😝
Just disband the FDA, corporate leadership will serve up infested meat. Easy peasy.
There were 3 Burger Kings in the nearby city. Theyve been there for 40ish years. Great locations and they were always busy.
Have you been in one of those since they started with the fake burgers? The stench is like raw sewage.
One is now out of business and the other two sit there empty most times.
Maybe I need to put cling wrap and trays in my bathroom then I can have a side gig selling organic homemade cruelty free cage free free range fair trade burger to passing liberals.
It’s a “Delicacy”.
Oh...no...”we” aren’t.
“Chocolate is a ‘food group’................”
chocolate is also a emergency D ration for the US military has been since WWII they don’t call it a D rat any more it’s soldier fuel same concept. High calorie ,high fat , dense food that can be eaten immediately and while moving on foot. Hershey made the original D rats and chocolate was also in K rats and the MCI that followed it. My old unit as a right of passage would pull out on a FNG’s first FTX MCI from Vietnam age and give them that instead of MRE’s
L Since eating insects is not kosher, I will not worry about this development.”
You must be Orthodox.
for everyone else God spoke to Peter in Acts cheaper 10.
The word of or Lord...
[Passage
Resources
Hebrew/Greek
Your Content
Acts 10
King James Version
10 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
5 And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter:
6 He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
7 And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually;
8 And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.
9 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.]
Pay attention to creeping things the original Hebrew would translate to insects.
No man shall argue with the Lord himself. There is no abolition against eating creeping things period full stop. It is personal hubris that people have which is a sin get right with the Lord admits to yourself you simply do not wish to eat those things and won hide behind false dogmas.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.