Edible insects have been identified as a promising source of chitin. Chitin and its derivative chitosan have a wide range of applications in various sectors, including the food industry. Chitin is usually isolated with sequential alkaline and acidic treatments, which generate chemical waste and affect the properties of the produced materials. In the present study, alternative methods were compared to the chemical treatment for chitin isolation from house crickets (Acheta domesticus). Chemical demineralization was compared to fermentation with Lactococcus lactis, treatment with citric acid and microwave treatment, leading to a degree of demineralization of 91.06±0.34, 97.33±0.79, 70.51±3.5 and 85.80±1.29%, respectively. Fermentation with Bacillus subtilis, a deep eutectic solvent and enzymatic digestion with papain and bromelain were tested for chitin isolation, but the chitin content of the generated materials was less than half when compared to the alkaline deproteinization. Further, chitosan was produced by deacetylation of the chitinous material obtained from two processes at a large scale: the chemical treatment and an alternative process by combining L. lactis fermentation with bromelain deproeinization. The chemical and alternative processes resulted in similar chitosan content (81.92 and 88%), antioxidant activity (59 and 49%) and degree of deacetylation (66.57 and 62.92%) respectively. The chitosan products were characterized with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which indicated comparable results. Therefore, the alternative process presented a good potential to replace chemical process of chitin isolation for industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]