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. 2023 Nov 23;12(23):4229.
doi: 10.3390/foods12234229.

Edible Insects: Perceptions of Marketing, Economic, and Social Aspects among Citizens of Different Countries

Raquel P F Guiné  1 , Sofia G Florença  1 , Cristina A Costa  1 , Paula M R Correia  1 , Luísa Cruz-Lopes  1 , Bruno Esteves  1 , Manuela Ferreira  2 , Anabela Fragata  3 , Ana P Cardoso  3 , Sofia Campos  3 , Ofélia Anjos  4 , Elena Bartkiene  5 , Ilija Djekic  6 , Irina M Matran  7 , Jelena Čulin  8 , Dace Klava  9 , Cristina Chuck-Hernández  10 , Malgorzata Korzeniowska  11 , Nada M Boustani  12 , Maria Papageorgiou  13 , Bernardo Prieto Gutiérrez  14 , Maša Černelič-Bizjak  15 , Emel Damarli  16 , Vanessa Ferreira  17
Affiliations

Edible Insects: Perceptions of Marketing, Economic, and Social Aspects among Citizens of Different Countries

Raquel P F Guiné et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Because 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.

Keywords: economy; insect consumption; marketing; questionnaire survey; social impact.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author Emel Damarli was employed by the company Research and Development Center, Altıparmak Food Coop., Çekmeköy, 34782 İstanbul, Turkey. This author's contribution is investigation. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distributions of the participants by country (N = 7222).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sociodemographic characteristics of the sample according to age, sex, education, living environment, and income.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Factor Analysis component plot for solution obtained with Varimax rotation.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Responses obtained to items V3, V8, and V14, separated by country.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Responses obtained to items V7, V10, and V13, separated by country.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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