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- Edible Insects: Perceptions of Marketing, Economic, and Social Aspects among Citizens of Different CountriesPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Florença, Sofia De Guiné E; Costa, Cristina Amaro Da; Correia, Paula; Cruz-Lopes, Luísa; Esteves, Bruno; Ferreira, Manuela; Fragata, Anabela; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Campos, Sofia; Anjos, Ofélia; Bartkiene, Elena; Djekic, Ilija; Matran, Irina M.; Čulin, Jelena; Klava, Dace; Chuck-Hernández, Cristina; Korzeniowska, Malgorzata; Boustani, Nada M.; Papageorgiou, Maria; Gutiérrez, Bernardo Prieto; Černelič-Bizjak, Maša; Damarli, Emel; Ferreira, VanessaBecause edible insects (EI) have been, in recent years, recommended as a nutritious animal protein food with enormous environmental advantages over other sources of animal protein for human consumption, studies aimed at investigating the consumer perspective have become more prominent. Hence, this study intended to examine the perceptions of participants from different countries about the commercialization and economic and social impacts of edible insects. The study was made using a questionnaire survey, and data were collected in Brazil, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey. The final number of received answers was 7222 participants. For the treatment of the results, different statistical techniques were used: factor analysis, internal reliability by Cronbach’s alpha, cluster analysis, ANOVA to test differences between groups, and Chi-square tests. The results obtained confirmed the validity of the scale, constituted by 12 out of the 14 items initially considered, distributed by 4 factors: the first related to the economic impact of EIs, the second related to the motivation for consumption of EIs, the third related to the places of purchase of EIs, and the fourth corresponding to a question presented to the participants as a false statement. A cluster analysis allowed identifying three clusters, with significant differences between them according to all the sociodemographic variables tested. Also, it was found that the participants expressed an exceptionally high level of agreement with aspects such as the difficulty in finding EIs on sale, knowledge acting as a strong motivator for EI consumption, and the role of personalities and influencers in increasing the will to consume EIs. Finally, practically all sociodemographic variables were found to be significantly associated with perceptions (country, sex, education, living environment, and income), but not age. In conclusion, the perceptions about EI commercialization were investigated and revealed differences among samples originating from different countries. Moreover, the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants were found to be strongly associated with their perceptions.
- Edible Insects: Consumption, Perceptions, Culture and Tradition Among Adult Citizens from 14 CountriesPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Florença, Sofia De Guiné E; Costa, Cristina Amaro Da; Correia, Paula; Cruz-Lopes, Luísa; Esteves, Bruno; Ferreira, Manuela; Fragata, Anabela; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Campos, Sofia; Anjos, Ofélia; Boustani, Nada M.; Bartkiene, Elena; Chuck-Hernández, Cristina; Djekic, Ilija; Tarcea, Monica; Sarić, Marijana Matek; Kruma, Zanda; Korzeniowska, Malgorzata; Papageorgiou, Maria; Árias, Leticia González; Černelič-Bizjak, Maša; Damarli, Emel; Ferreira, Vanessa; Bayraktaroğlu, Emre; Arpa, Fatmanur OzyurekAlthough edible insects (EIs) are encouraged as a sustainable source of protein, their consumption is not as generalised as other types of food that are internationally accepted. While in some regions of the world, EIs are part of the gastronomic and cultural traditions, in other regions, people are not so receptive to this type of food, and some people even express some disgust towards it. Hence, this research focused on the habits of the participants regarding the consumption of insects as well as their perceptions about EIs being or not a part of the local culture or gastronomic patrimony. A questionnaire survey was implemented in fourteen countries (Brazil, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey), and globally, 7222 adult participants responded to the questionnaire. SPSS software (version 28) was used to process the data and carry out chi-square tests and Factor Analyses (FA). The obtained results showed significant differences between countries for all the questions included in the survey, either those regarding the habits of the participants or their opinions about the facts linked with EI tradition or cultural aspects. It was found that participants from Mexico consume EIs more than in all other countries and that strong motivations that would lead to consumption among those who do not consume include curiosity and food shortage. The solution obtained with FA considering the ten statements of the scale consisted of two factors: F1—Culture and Tradition of EIs (α = 0.675) and F2—Acceptance of EIs (α = 0.614). In conclusion, the consumption of EIs and the perceptions of people are highly variable according to geographic location and cultural environment.
- Information about nutritional aspects of edible insects: Perspectives across different European geographiesPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Florença, Sofia De Guiné E; Costa, Cristina Amaro Da; Correia, Paula; Ferreira, Manuela; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Campos, Sofia; Anjos, Ofélia; Bartkiene, Elena; Sarić, Marijana MatekEdible insects (EIs) have recently gained attention as an alternative and more sustainable food, emerging as an alternative to other protein foods with higher environmental impacts, like bovine meat. EIs contain a valuable composition of macro and micronutrients, important for human nutrition. Nevertheless, their consumption is not yet widespread in Western countries, such as in Europe. This work aimed to study how consumers in three different European locations perceive the role of EIs in human nutrition. Data collection was carried out by a questionnaire survey in three countries (Croatia, Lithuania, and Portugal), and 1723 participants were included in the study. For the treatment of the data, SPSS software was used, and chi-square tests and tree classification analysis were performed. The results showed that for all the statements presented to the participants, significant differences were found in information about EIs according to country. The results further highlighted that the participants were better informed about the high protein content of EIs, while not being well informed about their possible anti-nutritive effects. Tree classification revealed that the most important discriminating variable was country, with Lithuanian participants being better informed than those from Portugal or Croatia.
- The motivations that define eating patterns in some Mediterranean countriesPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Ferrão, Ana Cristina; Ferreira, Manuela; Correia, Paula; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Duarte, João; Rumbak, Ivana; Shehata, Abdel-Moneim; Vittadini, Elena; Papageorgiou, MariaPurpose: This study is part of the international project EATMOT, designed to investigate several issues related to food choice and consumption patterns in different countries, including health related factors; economic and availability aspects; emotional determinants; social, cultural and religious influences; marketing and advertising campaigns and finally environmental concerns. Methodology: The present study was based on a questionnaire that was exclusively prepared for the project, and which was applied to collect data in different countries, in particular Croatia, Egypt, Italy, Greece and Portugal, which are typically associated with the Mediterranean diet. Findings: The results obtained allowed, in general, to conclude that in all 5 countries the motivations related to health as well as environment & politics were the more relevant to determine people’s eating habits (scores varying from 0.3 to 0.7). Women were more influenced by eating motivations than men, and people with moderate exercise were more susceptible to health and environmental motivations and less to emotional, social or marketing motivations (p <0.001 in all cases). It was also observed that people who adopted a special diet were more prone to eating motivations and that the emotional motivations were more pronounced in people with eating disorders (p <0.001). Finally, people without chronic diseases or allergies were even more influenced by health motivations than those who actually suffered from these health problems (p <0.001 in both cases). Originality/Value: This work is important due to the multinational coverage, thus allowing to evaluate the most relevant factors that influenced the food choices of the populations around the Mediterranean Sea, sharing the common link to the Mediterranean Diet. The study allowed concluding that, in general, the food choices were primarily determined by health factors, and also by concerns related to the environment and sustainability as well as by political influences.
- Development of a Questionnaire to Assess Knowledge and Perceptions about Edible InsectsPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Florença, Sofia De Guiné E; Costa, Cristina Amaro Da; Correia, Paula; Ferreira, Manuela; Duarte, João; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Campos, Sofia; Anjos, OféliaEdible 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.
- An Insight into the Level of Information about Sustainability of Edible Insects in a Traditionally Non-Insect-Eating Country: Exploratory StudyPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Florença, Sofia; Anjos, Ofélia; Correia, Paula; Ferreira, Bruno; Costa, Cristina Amaro DaInsects have been reported as a possible alternative solution to help feed the growing world pop-ulation with less stress on the planet, thus contributing to the preservation of the environment and natural ecosystems. However, the consumption of edible insects (EIs), although culturally ac-cepted for some communities, is not readily accepted for others. Hence this work explores the lev-el of information that people in a traditionally non-insect-eating country have about the sustaina-bility issues related with EIs, and also some possible reasons that could motivate their consump-tion. The study was based on a questionnaire survey and the results were explored by descriptive statistic tools, tree classification analysis, factor analysis and cluster analysis. The results showed that the level of information is still low in general, with most people not manifesting an opinion. However, some aspects are relatively familiar to the participants (88.9% know that the ecological footprint of insects is smaller than other meats and 86.9% know that they efficiently convert or-ganic matter into protein). Factor and cluster analysis showed three classes: cluster 1—people not informed about the facts disclosed through the true statements and also not able to distinguish the false information; cluster 2—people not informed about the facts disclosed through the true statements but who were able to distinguish the false information; and cluster 3—people well in-formed about the facts disclosed through the true statements but who were marginally unable to distinguish the false information. It was also found that education, sex and professional area are the most relevant sociodemographic factors associated with the level of information, and the highest motivations to consume EIs are their contribution to preserve the environment and natu-ral resources followed by being a more sustainable option (for 64.7% and 53.4% of participants, respectively). Hence it was concluded that, although some work still needs to be done to better inform people about EIs, there is already some conscientiousness that they constitute a good and more sustainable alternative to other types of meat.
- An Insight into the Level of Information about Sustainability of Edible Insects in a Traditionally Non-Insect-Eating Country: Exploratory StudyPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Florença, Sofia De Guiné E; Anjos, Ofélia; Correia, Paula; Ferreira, Bruno; Costa, Cristina AmaroInsects have been reported as a possible alternative solution to help feed the growing world population with less stress on the planet, thus contributing to the preservation of the environment and natural ecosystems. However, the consumption of edible insects (EIs), although culturally accepted for some communities, is not readily accepted for others. Hence this work explores the level of information that people in a traditionally non-insect-eating country have about the sustainability issues related with EIs, and also some possible reasons that could motivate their consumption. The study was based on a questionnaire survey and the results were explored by descriptive statistic tools, tree classification analysis, factor analysis and cluster analysis. The results showed that the level of information is still low in general, with most people not manifesting an opinion. However, some aspects are relatively familiar to the participants (88.9% know that the ecological footprint of insects is smaller than other meats and 86.9% know that they efficiently convert organic matter into protein). Factor and cluster analysis showed three classes: cluster 1—people not informed about the facts disclosed through the true statements and also not able to distinguish the false information; cluster 2—people not informed about the facts disclosed through the true statements but who were able to distinguish the false information; and cluster 3—people well informed about the facts disclosed through the true statements but who were marginally unable to distinguish the false information. It was also found that education, sex and professional area are the most relevant sociodemographic factors associated with the level of information, and the highest motivations to consume EIs are their contribution to preserve the environment and natural resources followed by being a more sustainable option (for 64.7% and 53.4% of participants, respectively). Hence it was concluded that, although some work still needs to be done to better inform people about EIs, there is already some conscientiousness that they constitute a good and more sustainable alternative to other types of meat