A Case Study Of An Alternate Source Of Protein: What Do The Consumers Think About Entomophagy?

Consuming insects can be the solution for providing food security all around the globe in the future. It is a widely accepted fact, that the Earth’s population will exceed 9.5 billion in 2050. To be able to feed that many people, the current volume of food production needs to be doubled, therefore we need to (re)discover new basic food sources. Insects are consumed on nearly all continents excluding Europe. The aim of the research is, to sum up, the challenges and opportunities of entomophagy in Europe and to evaluate the consumer’s willingness to try out these insect-based food products. An online survey was edited, which was filled out by 158 respondents. The socio-demographic aspects were gender, place of living, age, qualification and hours of exercise per week. The database was evaluated with descriptive statistical methods and non-parametric procedures. The results show that the biggest obstacle ahead of the insect-based products to be widely consumed is the European consumer itself. The „yuck-factor” means that there are some deeply rooted cultural differences between the European and other cultures. Nearly all of the respondents heard about insects as a food ingredient. 45% of them would taste an insect based dish. Males have significantly higher willingness to try out these insect-based products, however, no other socio-demographic group played role in determining the faction. In conclusion, until the conventional food products price does not raise significantly compare to the average salaries, consuming insects in Europe will not be a common thing. In the meantime, the goal should be to introduce these innovative food sources like insects to the consumers. The positive changes in the EU and Switzerland’s regulation can be an empowering factor in the continent. All in all, it is too early to widely introduce an innovation like this into the market, but there are few segments where the consumers are more likely to adopt edible insects into their diet.