Profiling consumers who are ready to adopt insects as a meat substitute in a Western society

With a growing world population, increasingly demanding consumers, and a limited amount of agricultural land, there is an urgent need to find alternatives to conventional meat products. Livestock production is, moreover, a leading cause of anthropogenic-induced climate change. To mediate this, more sustainable diets are needed, with reduced meat consumption or the use of alternative protein sources. Insects are promoted as human food and animal feed worldwide. In tropical countries, edible insects are harvested from nature, but overexploitation, habitat changes, and environmental contamination threaten this food resource. Therefore, sustainable harvesting practices need to be developed and implemented. We provide examples of (1) aquatic insects whose populations are threatened by pollution, (2) caterpillar species in Africa that are disappearing due to overexploitation and habitat change, (3) edible insects species that are considered pests in agro-ecosystems, and (4) edible insect species that can be conserved and enhanced in forest management systems. Insect farming can be conducted either on small-scale farms or in large-scale industrialized rearing facilities. We review the environmental sustainability of insect farming compared to livestock production. The major environmental advantages of insect farming compared to livestock production are as follows: (1) less land and water is required; (2) greenhouse gas emissions are lower; (3) insects have high feed conversion efficiencies; (4) insects can transform low-value organic by-products into high-quality food or feed; and (5) certain insect species can be used as animal feed or aqua feed. For instance, they can replace fish meal, which is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. However, edible insect species intended for production should be screened for risks to humans, animals, plants, and biodiversity.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs13593-017-0452-8.pdf

The environmental sustainability of insects as food and feed. A review

Background Our daily food choices have a huge impact on the environment. Production of meat has a much larger impact compared with the production of vegetable-based proteins. In order to create a food production and supply system that is more sustainable and environmentally friendly, food consumption behaviour needs to change. A reduction of meat intake is necessary. The introduction of alternative protein sources (e.g., insects or cultured meat) might be one possibility to replace meat. Scope and approach The present systematic review identified 38 articles to answer the following three research questions: 1) Are consumers aware that meat consumption has a large environmental impact? 2) Are consumers willing to reduce meat consumption or substitute meat with an alternative? 3) Are consumers willing to accept meat substitutes and alternative proteins, such as insects or cultured meat? Key findings and conclusion Consumer awareness of the environmental impact of meat production is surprisingly low. This is true for consumers in various European countries. Likewise, willingness to change meat consumption behaviour in terms of reducing or substituting meat (e.g., by eating insects or meat substitutes) is low as well. How people can be motivated to decrease their meat consumption behaviour has been underexplored. In particular, experimental studies are lacking and further investigations should focus on strategies (e.g., nudging interventions) that might help to motivate pro-environmentally friendly meat consumption behaviour. Moreover, population-based studies are scarce, and we need more in-depth studies on the factors that increase people's willingness to reduce or to substitute meat consumption.

Consumer perception and behaviour regarding sustainable protein consumption: A systematic review

Food futurists accept that sustainability-minded humanity will increasingly incorporate insects as alternative protein. The most studied and easily reared species are not necessarily the most sustainable, acceptable, or delicious. Here, we review the literature on the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, which is capable of efficiently converting a wide variety of organic materials, from food waste to manure, into insect biomass. They can be grown and harvested without dedicated facilities and are not pestiferous. Their larvae are 42% crude protein and 29% fat, although they are higher in saturated fats than most insects. They do not concentrate pesticides or mycotoxins. They are already grown and recommended for use as animal feed, but with regional legal restrictions on how this is done. For commercial use in human foods, larvae could potentially be milled and converted into a textured protein with a strong flavor. Their biggest advantage over other insects is their ability to convert waste into food, generating value and closing nutrient loops as they reduce pollution and costs. This general advantage is also their greatest disadvantage, for the social stigmas and legal prohibitions against eating organisms that eat waste are added to extant taboos facing insect consumption.

Review of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) as Animal Feed and Human Food

The psychology of eating insects: A cross-cultural comparison between Germany and China

Consumer acceptance of insect-based alternative meat products in Western countries

Entomophagy is not well accepted in Western European populations but it is common in the world. In the future, populations from developed countries should adapt to other sources of animal proteins because traditional breeding of beef, poultry or pork will become unsustainable.

This study was performed to assess the perception of entomophagy in the Belgian population. A slight neophobia was detected but people agreed to evaluate insect preparations. Various insect formulations (mealworms and house crickets) were prepared, and insects associated with known flavors and crispy textures were preferred. After a hedonic test, people seemed to be willing to eat and cook insects in the near future.

The opportunity to introduce entomophagy in food habits of Western European populations was positively concluded. Integration of edible insects in human food is a potential solution to replace other animal protein sources in a much more sustainable development and will deserve more attention in the future.

Practical Applications
This study shows the edible insects' potential to become a usual food ingredient in Western European populations. Our results show that consumers are ready to buy and cook insects at home if they are able to associate them with familiar flavors.

Edible Insects Acceptance by Belgian Consumers: Promising Attitude for Entomophagy Development

In order to explore some potential insect sources of food lipids, the lipid compositions of three Orthopterans (Acheta domesticus, Conocephalus discolor and Chorthippus parallelus) were analyzed and compared with those of Tenebrio molitor larvae. A. domesticus, Co. discolor, Ch. parallelus and T. molitor larvae were found to contain approximately 15%, 13%, 10% and 32% lipids on dry weight, respectively. The lipids from three Orthopterans contain much higher amounts of essential fatty acids than those of T. molitor larvae. The two Orthopterans of the suborder Ensifera i.e., A. domesticus and Co. discolor contain linoleic acid in major quantities, while Ch. parallelus of the suborder Caelifera, contain α-linolenic acid in major quantities. The consumption of linoleic and α-linolenic fatty acid is linked with numerous health promoting effects. The factors that contribute to differences in fatty acid profiles of these insects are being discussed. At last the nutritional parameters including polyunsaturated to saturated and omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acid ratios of these insect lipids are also being discussed to understand the potential role of these lipids in human nutrition.

Insect fatty acids: A comparison of lipids from three Orthopterans and Tenebrio molitor L. larvae

Edible insects are gaining more and more attention as a sustainable source of animal protein for food and feed in the future. In Belgium, some insect products can be found on the market, and consumers are sourcing fresh insects from fishing stores or towards traditional markets to find exotic insects that are illegal and not sanitarily controlled. From this perspective, this study aims to characterize the microbial load of edible insects found in Belgium (i.e., fresh mealworms and house crickets from European farms and smoked termites and caterpillars from a traditional Congolese market) and to evaluate the efficiency of different processing methods (blanching for all species and freeze-drying and sterilization for European species) in reducing microorganism counts. All untreated insect samples had a total aerobic count higher than the limit for fresh minced meat (6.7 log cfu/g). Nevertheless, a species-dependent blanching step has led to a reduction of the total aerobic count under this limit, except for one caterpillar species. Freeze-drying and sterilization treatments on European species were also effective in reducing the total aerobic count. Yeast and mold counts for untreated insects were above the Good Manufacturing Practice limits for raw meat, but all treatments attained a reduction of these microorganisms under this limit. These results confirmed that fresh insects, but also smoked insects from non-European trades, need a cooking step (at least composed of a first blanching step) before consumption. Therefore, blanching timing for each studied insect species is proposed and discussed.

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/8/1/12/pdf

Microbiological Load of Edible Insects Found in Belgium

Synthese bibliographique : les strategies de lutte pheromonale utilisees pour controler la mineuse de la tomate, Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera : Gelechiidae). Cette synthese bibliographique fait le point sur les strategies de lutte pheromonale developpees specifiquement pour lutter contre la mineuse de la tomate, Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Ce ravageur provient d’Amerique du Sud et est actuellement considere comme un des plus importants ravageurs de tomates dans les pays europeens et nord-africains du bassin mediterraneen. Apres avoir presente les principes generaux des strategies de lutte pheromonale, les strategies utilisees pour controler T. absoluta, comme les techniques de detection de ravageurs, de suivi des populations, de piegeage de masse et de confusion sexuelle, sont decrites successivement dans cette synthese.

https://popups.uliege.be:443/1780-4507/index.php?id=16919&file=1&pid=10229

Rudy Caparros Megido

Papers

Consumer acceptance of insect-based alternative meat products in Western countries

Edible Insects Acceptance by Belgian Consumers: Promising Attitude for Entomophagy Development

Insect fatty acids: A comparison of lipids from three Orthopterans and Tenebrio molitor L. larvae

Microbiological Load of Edible Insects Found in Belgium

Pheromone-based management strategies to control the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). A review