Physicochemical Properties of Chitosan from Two Commonly Reared Edible Cricket Species, and Its Application as a Hypolipidemic and Antimicrobial Agent

Insect-derived chitin and chitosan have gained interest as alternative sources to that derived from crustaceans; however, little information is available on chitin from the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) and tropical banded cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus), two cricket species commonly reared in the United States for human consumption. In this study, chitin was successfully isolated and purified from these two cricket species; using FTIR, chitins were found to be in alpha-crystalline form. Cricket chitosan was produced from both species with varying degrees of deacetylation (DDA) by varying alkaline conversion duration. G. sigillatus chitosan was larger (524 kDa) than A. domesticus chitosan (344 kDa). Both cricket chitosans showed similar (p > 0.05) lipid-binding capacity to that of shrimp chitosan. Both chitosans were as effective at inhibiting microbial growth of surrogate foodborne pathogens as the commercial shrimp chitosan. At a concentration of 0.50 mg/mL cricket chitosan, approximately 100% of Listeria innocua growth was inhibited, due to a contribution of both chitosan and the solvent-acetic acid. At the same concentration, growth of Escherichia coli was inhibited 90% by both cricket chitosan samples with ~80% DDA, where a decrease in the DDA led to decreased antimicrobial activity. However, varying the DDA had no effect on chitosan’s lipid-binding capacity. As more edible insects become a normalized protein source in our diet, the use of by-products, such as chitin and chitosan, derived from insect protein processing, show promising applications for the pharmaceutical and food industries