The role of information and attitudes towards more sustainable technologies in the acceptance of insects as a food ingredient

Abstract

Although insects are considered a healthy and more sustainable source of proteins, consumers in Western countries are still reluctant to accept them as a food ingredient to be included in food formulation. In order to improve acceptance, studies focused on identifying the drivers of the acceptance of insects have shown that environmental awareness is one of the main factors that could encourage the acceptance of insects as food. The current study analyses 435 Spanish consumers’ attitudes towards cookies prepared using insect flour compared to those made using traditional wheat flour and evaluates the influence of consumer attitudes towards sustainable technologies in the acceptance and willingness to pay (WTP) for insect-based cookies. The effect of providing information about the environmental sustainability of insect production on consumer predisposition to buy insect-based products is also considered and we present a description of the sociodemographic characteristics of the consumers that are more sensitive to such information. Our results show that consumers’ WTP falls dramatically when presented with the ‘with insect flour’ claim, with it being the most significant attribute affecting consumers’ preferences. However, the findings also suggest that a significant segment of consumers (37.0%) is more open to eating insects after being informed about their environmental benefits. Gender (women), age (younger) and education (university) are the sociodemographic factors related to a more significant effect of information on consumers’ attitudes towards insect-based foods.