Applications
Fine-milled cricket powder for protein-enriched bread, crackers, biscuits, and pasta, with samples and documents for your development team.
What Protanica supplies
Bakers and pasta makers blend cricket flour with wheat flour or semolina to raise protein and add essential amino acids. It works as a partial replacement, not a one-for-one swap, so recipes need adjusting.
Protanica mills its powder from whole house crickets in Thailand. Send us your recipe and target market, and we will send a sample and the current specification.
Formulation considerations
Cricket powder brings protein, fat, and fibre but no gluten. These are the changes bakery and pasta developers plan for.
Dough with cricket powder needed more water and shorter mixing and proofing to keep acceptable bread volume in published trials. Expect to retune hydration and process times rather than reuse your control settings.
As cricket powder rises, dough strength and extensibility fall. Bread at 10 percent kept volume and crumb hardness close to plain wheat bread in one study, while 30 percent noticeably weakened the dough.
Cricket powder made durum pasta firmer and reduced cooking loss and water uptake. In fresh pasta, the best cooking behaviour came at 5 percent replacement. Test drying and cooking for your shape and line.
Products turn darker, which consumers in one study compared to wholemeal pasta. Flavour shift had the largest effect on acceptance, so include sensory panels early and consider savoury or wholegrain positioning.
One bread study found spore-forming bacteria in loaves containing cricket powder and recommended further safety work. Ask for microbiological data with your sample and validate your bake and shelf life.
EU authorisations require a crustacean, mollusc, and dust mite allergy statement for house cricket, and they are tied to specific applicants and product forms. The 2023/5 authorisation for partially defatted powder lists bread, crackers, biscuits, baked-product premixes, and pasta among its uses. Confirm the rules for your product and market.
Published research
Three peer-reviewed studies give practical starting points for inclusion level, dough handling, and consumer acceptance.
Results come from the researchers' own ingredients and equipment. Use them to plan trials, then confirm performance with a Protanica sample.
How we can help
Start with an ingredient trial in your own kitchen or line, or work with us on formulation and production.
Cricket flour for your bakery or pasta production, with specifications and documents on request.
View the powderDevelop and test the recipe in pilot production before committing to commercial runs.
Explore R&D supportDiscuss a branded cricket product made and packed by Protanica in our available formats.
Explore private labelSee which identity, protein, moisture, and microbiology data to ask for before you buy.
Read the guideSourcing FAQ
Yes, usually as a partial replacement for wheat flour. In published trials, bread with 10 percent cricket powder kept a volume and crumb hardness similar to plain wheat bread once water was increased and mixing and proofing times were shortened. Higher levels weakened the dough.
Studies suggest starting around 5 to 10 percent. Bread at 10 percent performed close to the control in one study, and fresh pasta cooked best at 5 percent in another. Dried durum pasta with up to 15 percent was still accepted by consumers in a third study. Test a ladder of levels in your own recipe.
Yes. Cricket powder makes pasta darker and firmer, and consumers in one study described the colour as similar to wholemeal pasta. Flavour change was the factor that most affected consumer acceptance, so include sensory testing early.
No. Protanica's powder is milled from whole house crickets. Defatted powders have a different composition, so do not use published values for defatted products as a specification. Ask for Protanica's current specification instead.
You can request the current product specification, available certificate of analysis information, and quality documents, including SGS GHPs and HACCP certificates. Ask about microbiological parameters relevant to your process and market.
EU authorisations for house cricket require a statement that the ingredient may cause allergic reactions in people allergic to crustaceans, molluscs, and dust mites. Wheat-based products also carry gluten labelling. Check the rules for each destination market.
Sources and scope
Published studies used their own ingredients, formulas, and equipment, so treat their results as starting points rather than a specification for Protanica products. This page is not legal or regulatory advice. Check product permission, allergen wording, labelling, and claims for your exact product and destination market.
Tell us what you bake or extrude, your target market, and your project stage. Early ideas are welcome, and you do not need exact volumes to start.