This idea is terrible. Chitin, the sugar in bug exoskeletons, activates the innate human immune system. Switching out our proteins with bugs would surely cause a rise in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Non-human chitinases would simply be added as a processing step. This might be as simple as canning the grubs in tomato sauce, or serving them with avocado.
People do eat mushrooms and shellfish, after all.
Larger insects can have their exoskeletons removed or partially removed, and those can be turned into chitosan, just like the shells from peeled shrimp.
The Wikipedia article mentions that chitin's degradation products are still recognized. Do you think these chitinases would break the bonds enough to bypass immune recognition?
It was not clear to me whether the degradation products of human chitinase and non-human chitinases are the same, which is why I explicitly specified non-human chitinases.
It seems likely to me that people with latex-fruit allergies would also be allergic to the breakdown products from non-human chitinases, whereas those with shellfish and dust mite allergies would also be allergic to the breakdown products from human chitinase. Either way, it is likely to be a food allergen.
Ugh I always forget this, and about every 5 years I'll accidentally eat some crab in shell. My face will turn red, lungs tighten up, and any part of my skin that touches it turns into a red rash. It is a real thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitin#Humans_and_other_mammal...