**5.2 Defatting**

The form and substance of the precursor material have a big impact on the defatting process. For a few existing low-fat items, this step may simply be skipped [58]. The protein recovery and purity of the final product are directly affected by eliminating fat from the sample. Protein-lipid interactions restrict protein solubility due to the hydrophobic nature of lipids [59]. At the laboratory scale, the defatting procedure also increased insect protein output [60]. *T. molitor* and *Hermetia illucens*, for example, had their protein content increased from 57.8 ± 1.2 percent to 64.6 ± 0.3 percent and 34.7 ± 0.2 percent to 44.9 ± 1.4 percent, accordingly, due to hexane defatting process [61]. Defatting is an important step in making insect-based protein-enriched foods, given these findings and the high-fat content of most edible insects [62].
