Abstract
Simple SummaryEdible insects are considered a traditional food in many countries, especially in Asia, Africa and South America, but in other countries, for example, in Europe, they are not readily accepted and people tend to have some disgust towards this type of food. Lately, however, edible insects have been pointed to as a possibly more sustainable source of animal protein, allied with other nutritional and environmental advantages. In this way, they can be considered as a future food that could help mitigate hunger and malnutrition. Additionally, new gastronomic trends are already targeting this area for exploring new potentialities. The objective of this work was to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess consumers’ perceptions of and knowledge about edible insects, focusing on different perspectives, such as cultural influences, gastronomic potential, the sustainability of food systems, economic and commercialization aspects or nutrition and health. The validation of this questionnaire confirms its usefulness for investigating consumer perceptions of and knowledge about edible insects, making possible its application in different countries. As a result, actions could be planned to improve the acceptability of edible insects in societies unaccustomed to this type of food, maybe by benefiting from the experience of countries wherein insects are considered valuable foods.Edible insects (EI) have been consumed as traditional foods in many parts of the globe, but in other regions, they are not readily accepted, particularly in Western countries. However, because EI are suggested to constitute a more sustainable protein food as compared with other sources of animal protein, they can be considered a future food that could help mitigate hunger and malnutrition. Additionally, new gastronomic trends are already targeting this area for exploring new potentialities. The objective of this work was to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess consumers’ perceptions and knowledge about EI in seven different domains: D1. Culture and Tradition, D2. Gastronomic Innovation and Gourmet Kitchen, D3. Environment and Sustainability, D4. Economic and Social Aspects, D5. Commercialization and Marketing, D6. Nutritional Aspects and D7. Health Effects. The 64 items were subjected to item analysis and reliability analysis for validation, and factor analysis was also conducted to identify a grouping structure. The results validated all the items of the seven subscales with high values of Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.732 for D1, α = 0.795 for D2, α = 0.882 for D3, α = 0.742 for D4, α = 0.675 for D5, α = 0.799 for D6 and α = 0.788 for D7). However, by eliminating 17 items, the final values of the alpha increased in all subscales. Factor analysis with extraction by principal component analysis with varimax rotation extracted 14 factors that explained, in total, 65% of the variance, although the first two factors were the most important (35.7% variance explained). In conclusion, the confirmed usefulness of the questionnaire has been hereby validated for assessing consumer perceptions of and knowledge about EI.
Highlights
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 2015, intended to work towards a sustainable society seeking economic prosperity while comprising social and environmental concerns
The questionnaire structure and the seven subscales were validated by item analysis, including item–item and item–total correlations, as well as reliability through the calculation of Cronbach’s alpha, the results of which are presented
As concerns the last subscale D7 (Health Effects), the internal reliability of the original set of ten items was acceptable (α = 0.788), but this was increased to good (α = 0.832) by removing items 3 and 5. These results indicate that all subscales had acceptable internal reliability in their original forms, but still could be improved by removing some key items in each case
Summary
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 2015, intended to work towards a sustainable society seeking economic prosperity while comprising social and environmental concerns. The impact of world beef production is immense; since this continues to expand, much of which owing to the devastation of natural ecosystems as a way to obtain pastures for cattle, and this being problematic in South America, with the destruction of tropical rain forests that are considered part of the planet’s lungs. This forest devastation to establish pastures is precipitously interfering with the ecosystem’s functioning [5]. Some consider that livestock is highly responsible for the increase in GHG emissions, while others refute those accusations by saying that range livestock production is much more efficient in terms of environmental impact and energy expenditure when compared with other systems of food production based on land, including the vegetable ones and especially as concerns some extensive crops [6]
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