Abstract
While admitting that neophobia and sociocultural factors negatively affect consumers’ propensity to consume insect-based foods, other aspects related to food values that consumers attach to these foods could have an influence on consuming decision. In order to identify the motivations and determinants that influence the propensity to consume insects and then to explore the drivers behind consumers’ willingness to consume insect-based foods, the data collected through the questionnaire were processed. After a descriptive analysis of the data, ANOVA was performed. Moreover, Student’s t test and pairwise correlation indices were estimated in order to determine statistically significant correlation. Our findings show that information about edible insects brought about an increase in food neophobia and appearance affected the expected liking levels. In addition, we have shown that respondents’ propensity to consume insect-based foods also depends on consumers’ subjective beliefs about food values such as healthiness, naturalness and environmental impact. We also found that respondents’ beliefs about food values associated with insect-based foods do not depend on the degree of information provided but are probably due to pre-existing prejudices about them.
Highlights
The search for new food sources and innovative methods that allow the production of high-quality proteins while respecting animal welfare and the planet is based on the latest estimates of the growth prospects of the world population
Our findings show that information about edible insects brought about an increase in food neophobia and appearance affected the expected liking levels
The other aim of this research is to solve the problem of the existing literature regarding the entomophagy sector: it is not clearly distinguished the effect of food values related to insect-based foods and other factors like neophobia or sociocultural barriers on consumers’ willingness to consume
Summary
The search for new food sources and innovative methods that allow the production of high-quality proteins while respecting animal welfare and the planet is based on the latest estimates of the growth prospects of the world population. According to the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (DESA), by 2050, the world population will be 9.7 billion and, for these reasons, the search for new solutions to meet the growing food needs of the population is becoming increasingly important. In this context, the food use of insects, both for human consumption and to produce animal feed, has been indicated by the FAO as the most promising way to achieve new sustainable production of food [1]. As reported in the literature, such prejudices are mainly attributable to cultural traditions showing insects as dirty and harmful creatures and communities consuming insects as poor and wild [9]
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