New sustainable protein sources: consumers’ willingness to adopt insects as feed and food

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the willingness of Italian consumers to adopt insects as part of animal and human diets. Furthermore, we evaluated the effect of information about the benefit of introducing insects into the diet on consumers' acceptance. The results showed that Italian consumers were clearly not ready to accept insects as food, whereas a major positive trend was observed regarding their use as feed. The principal factors affecting the Italian consumers’ readiness to adopt insects as food and feed were age, gender, cultural background and food neophobia. Information about the environmental and nutritional benefits of introducing insects as food had a marginal but positive effect on their visual acceptability.