Insects as food: consumers’ acceptance and marketing

Alhujaili, A., Nocella, G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9625-6315 and Macready, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0368-9336 (2023) Insects as food: consumers’ acceptance and marketing. Foods, 12 (4). 886. ISSN 2304-8158 doi: 10.3390/foods12040886

Abstract/Summary

The growing demand for livestock products is associated with an increase in environmental, economic, and ethical issues. New alternative sources of protein such as edible insects have recently been developed to tackle these issues with fewer drawbacks. However, several challenges are associated with insect-based food, mainly regarding consumer acceptance and commercialization. In this systematic review, we explored these challenges by reviewing 85 papers from 2010 to 2020, which were selected following the PRISMA methodology. Additionally, we applied the SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, and Research type) tool for developing the inclusion criteria. Our analysis adds new knowledge to previous systematic reviews on this topic. It reveals both a comprehensive framework of factors influencing consumers’ acceptance of insects as food and aspects of the marketing mix of these products. Disgust, food neophobia, familiarity, visibility of insects, and taste appear to be the most significant factors that can prevent consumers from consuming insects as food. The motivations for acceptance are found to be familiarity and exposure. The results of this review provide insights for policymakers and stakeholders who wish to develop marketing strategies that can increase consumer acceptance of insects as food.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/110727
Identification Number/DOI	10.3390/foods12040886
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development > Department of Agri-Food Economics & Marketing
Publisher	MDPI
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