| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 433.5 KB | Adobe PDF |
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Edible insects have been suggested as a potential environmental and economic solution to replace less sustainable
conventional protein sources for human nutrition. Hence, this work investigated the perceptions and knowledge of consumers
in fourteen different countries towards edible insects and their relation with environment and sustainability. For that, data were
collected through a questionnaire survey in the ambit of the EISuFood Project, and 7221 responses were obtained. The results
showed that although participants had some difficulty in identifying wrong statements, a majority were able to express
disagreement towards them (ex. comparison between poultry and insect productions for water requirements, comparison
between pork and insect productions for area requirements). A great majority of respondents showed agreement with true
statements, like insect production emits fewer greenhouse gases than beef production. Higher percentages of respondents that
did not manifest a decisive opinion were found for insects being able to efficiently convert organic matter into protein, or for
loss of biodiversity being lower for insect compared to other animal productions. Sociodemographic variables sex and
education were significantly influenced knowledge on most of the questions, while age was not found so influential. Regarding
the geographic variable living environment, it significantly influenced the knowledge on practically all items, and country
significantly influenced knowledge in all of the questions, being the most influential of all variables studied. As a conclusion,
it was fund that perception about edible insects and sustainability are influenced by sociodemographic characteristics of the
participants and greatly variable according to geographical factors.
Description
Keywords
Consumer Food Choice Sustainability Edible Insects
Citation
Guiné RPF, Florença SG, Ferrão ACF. (2024) Consumer perception about edible insects’ relation with environment and sustainability, in Proceedings of the 1525th International Conference on Science, Engineering & Technology, Bruxelas, Bélgica, pp. 24-30.