Consumer acceptance among Dutch and German students of insects in feed and food

Abstract

Due to the environmental and nutritional benefits of insects, their consumption would be one of the solutions to feed the growing human population. Despite the increasing interest in the use of insects as food and feed, consumer acceptance is the major obstacle to successful implementation in Western countries and we studied the factors that influence consumer acceptance in a group of university students from Germany and the Netherlands. In this exploratory research, a survey was conducted (n = 222). Socio‐demographic and psychological factors were established from a theoretical review. In addition, we elaborated on questions regarding information on the health and environmental benefits of consuming insects. Initially, the data obtained are presented through descriptive statistics. The influence of the socio‐demographic and psychological factors, and the information on the willingness to accept insects as animal feed and human food was analyzed using correlations and multiple linear regressions. Results showed more willingness to accept insects as animal feed than in human food. The acceptance among German and Dutch students seems to be driven by issues similar to those in other European countries, such as visual aspects and knowledge about the benefits. The effect of the information on willingness constitutes an important finding of this study, especially for the use of insects in animal feed, since most of the previous studies have focused on the use of insects as human food. Our data support the need to inform and educate consumers about the environmental and health benefits of entomophagy. We conclude that effective efforts to implement entomophagy could increase the level of familiarity with the insect food and inform (or educate) consumers about its benefits. Insights from this study are useful to address studies focusing on specific segments of possible early adopters and consequently addressing communication strategies in this market segmentation.

Consumers’ Perspectives on Eggs from Insect-Fed Hens: A UK Focus Group Study

“…Consequently, consumers need to be provided with reliable information to increase their confidence and trust in the product. In line with other studies, the provision of comprehensive information about the benefits of feeding hens with insects may enhance awareness and, in turn, increase consumers' intentions to consume and purchase the product [13][14][15]20].…”

“…This result is in line with the study of Szendrő, Nagy, and Tóth conducted in Hungary [14]. Despite disgust and neophobia negatively influencing acceptance and intentions, studies agreed that this effect appeared to be less strong for insects as feed than as food [8,13] and could be overcome by informing consumers about the benefits of eating insect-fed foodstuffs [13][14][15]20].…”

“…Participants overall showed positive attitudes towards eggs from insect-fed hens [7,9,12,13,15]. In particular, with the provision of information, participants demonstrated that environmental, food waste, and animal welfare benefits positively influenced intentions to consume and purchase the product [5,[10][11][12].…”

“…In recent years, consumers have shown increasing acceptance for insect-fed foodstuffs, in particular for insect-fed fish and chicken [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. However, given the novelty of insects as feed, it is perhaps unsurprising that research in this area is limited.…”

“…Furthermore, as stated by Roma, Palmisano, and De Boni [13] and Bazoche and Poret [20], information on environmental benefits may increase positive intentions among Italian and French consumers. Likewise, Naranjo-Guevara et al [15] mentioned the importance of providing information not only about environmental benefits but also about the enhanced nutritional content of insects as food and feed.…”