Entomophagy: A Narrative Review on Nutritional Value, Safety, Cultural Acceptance and A Focus on the Role of Food Neophobia in Italy
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Nutritional Value
1.2. Safety
2. Entomophagy Versus Disgust in the World
3. The Role of Food Neophobia on the Intention to Consume Insects in Italy
4. Discussion and Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Coleoptera | Lepidoptera | Hymenoptera | Orthoptera | Hemiptera | Isoptera | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Energy (kcal) | 78–155 | 358–361 | 79–184 | 89–227 | 63–165 | 93–535 |
Protein (g) | 13–21 | 49–55 | 7–14 | 13–68 | 19–20 | 21–21 |
Fat (g) | 1–19 | 4–22 | 3–13 | 1–43 | 2–57 | 2–42 |
CHO (g) | 1–3 | 12–18 | 5–6 | 1–5 | 3–8 | 20–21 |
Fiber (g) | 5–7 | 4–15 | 1–3 | 2–10 | 4–5 | 5–6 |
Fe(mg) | 0.3–24 | 0.03–109 | 3–103 | 0.1–42 | 0.4–29 | 0.1–31 |
Zn (mg) | 5–6 | 2–11 | 4–15 | 4–13 | 4–46 | 3–8 |
Vit A (IU) | 8–27 | 4.3–4.4 | - | 21–25 | 21–150 | 03–0.7 |
Vit E (IU) | 0.7–1.2 | 8.3–8.6 | - | 1.0–2.3 | 1.4–13 | 0.8–1.0 |
Thiamine (mg) | 0.2–0.3 | - | 0.2–0.3 | 0–0.4 | 0–0.6 | - |
Riboflavin (mg) | 1.1–3.5 | - | 0.2–0.9 | 0.4–3.4 | 0.9–1.5 | 1.5–4.2 |
Vit.B12 (mcg) | - | - | - | 5–9 | - | - |
Sample (n) | Design | Major Results | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
North Italy (Bolzano*): International university students (n.125), (trilingual: English, German and Italian) *[border with Austria region of Italian Alps] | FNS WTC Chontacuros (Rhynchophorus palmarum L.): an insect species considered a delicacy amongst indigenous people and settlers of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. | FNS negatively influences WTC. Persuasion strategies positively influence WTC. | [12] |
North Italy (Milan) university students, employees and consumers from outside the university (n.341: 223 females and 118 males—18–80 years) | Questionnaire: willingness to incorporate insects into diets Subjects divided in 3 groups: “low neophobia” (FNS scores ≤ 23, n=86), “medium neophobia” (FNS scores ≥ 24 and ≤ 41, n=166) “high neophobia” (FNS scores ≥ 42, n=89) | People with Low level of food neophobia were significantly more willing to accept insects as feed, as food and served in an ethnic restaurant than people with a medium level of food neophobia who, in turn, showed a significantly higher readiness than neophobic consumers. Younger people more readily accepted insects. University students and staff (e.g., High level of education) more readily accepted insects. Environmental and nutritional benefits marginally affected the acceptability of insect-based foods. | [73] |
North Italy (Milan) and South Italy (Bari) university students (n.35561, 69% female, 18–29 years | Online questionnaires concerning the WTT different food containing insect or earthworm ingredients | 38% more likely to consider insect- food part of Italian diet, 32% rejected. Insects/earthworms more accepted in salty snacks. Gender influenced WTT. | [74] |
North Italy (Padua) university students with part-time occupation (72%) plus employees in several jobs (n.32—20–35 years) | WTE Insect-based food: cheddar cheese larvets, lollipops, chocolate covered scorpions, salt infused with chili and agave worms, dried crickets, baked grasshoppers, toasted scorpions | WTE is dependent on the form in which the products are presented. Crustaceans were frequently mentioned as a comparison in terms of distaste. | [75] |
North Italy (Parma) (n.46 individuals recruited at a “bug banquet”) | The nutritional and the environmental benefits of entomophagy were explained Tasting insects:-House cricket (Acheta domesticus) -Wax moth larvae (Galleria mellonella) -Grasshoppers (Calliptamus italicus) | WTT is determined by curiosity and disgust. 63% of the sample who tasted the insects preferred wax moth larvae, followed by locusts (19%) and crickets (12%); 6% indicated that none of the three species above were preferred. | [76] |
North Italy (Parma) university students (n.109, 53% females, 18–25 years) | WTT “Bug tasting session”: Cookie product made by replacing 10% of the traditional flour with “cricket flour” (Acheta domesticus). | 47% believed that entomophagy might become a culinary trend in Italy, whilst the other half states that it would not be “successful”, “appropriate” or “exciting. 67.5% indicated they would taste edible insects if they had the opportunity. “Bug-tasting session”: 94% of the students agreed to eat the insect-based food. | [77] |
North Italy (Parma) university students (n.231, 62% female, mean age 23.6 ± 3.8 years. | ITE Tasting: chocolate chip cookie containing 10% of cricket flour (Acheta domesticus) | Weak ITE products containing insect flour. Only 110 individuals ITE and only 53 (22.9% of the total) students tasted the novel food. | [78,79] |
North Italy (Parma): university students and staff (n.88, 45 females,18–40 years from: 20% North East, 36% North West, 14% Central and 30% Southern Italy). | FNS, WTT. Tasting two sweet jellies: one with a visible cricket (unprocessed) and one with a processed cricket. | WTT is affected by the FNS. Males were more WTT new foods. WTT-unprocessed < WTT-processed insect-based product. 75% tasted both products 19% tasted only the insect-based jelly 6% did not try either product | [11,80,81] |
Central Italy (Pisa) university students (n.165) | Informative seminar entitled “Insects as Food and Feed: Future Prospects” n. 66 [40%] took part of a tasting session: two bread samples identical, except one was claimed to be supplemented with insect powder, e.g., “insect-labelled” bread, although it did not contain any insect ingredients. | No gender impact. WTT is positively affected by behavioural intention. The belief of positive effects on health has a stronger influence on behavioural intentions when compared to beliefs about environmental protection and familiar taste. After the seminar, disgust factor and the fear of negative texture properties was reduced. | [82] |
Central Italy (Viterbo) (n.201, female: 55%, mean age 43 years) Education: 19%lower, 49%secondary, 32%university | Insect pictures were showed: Insect-based preparation comparable to sushi Street food stand with fried insects Skewers with pupae Plate with larvae and pupae with some vegetables Meat burger with some larvae on the top | 31% WTT insects as food 5% had already tried insects The fear of insects and the idea that the taste might be disgusting were the main barriers to the WTT Familiarity with foreign food, higher education and gender (male) positively influenced consumer attitude to entomophagy. | [83] |
South Italy (Naples) university students (n.118: 58 females and 60 males) | Computer questionnaire “Insects vs. flowers” FNS Disgust sensitivity scale | FNS significantly correlates with intention but not with disgust. Intention correlated significantly with disgust. | [84] |
South Italy (Naples) (n.200 university students, 40% female, 18–20 years) | General information on benefits on health and environment were given. WTP of 3 categories of foods (pasta, cookies and chocolate bars) with insects (and their conventional counterparts were evaluated). | Without information: - insect-based products lower WTP in the case of cookies and chocolate - same WTP for the two versions of pasta With information on benefits: consumers’ WTP increase for all the products. Food Neophobia negatively affected the WTP for insect-based products | [85] |
South Italy (Naples) students or just graduates (n.45) | Drivers of acceptance to insects. | Curiosity drives acceptance. Disgust and food neophobia were related to low acceptance. | [86] |
Italians (n.135 individuals, 46% female, 18–35 years) | Insect pictures were showed: Flour/whole insects Opaque/transparent packaging Cacao flavor High protein content (30% of protein content) Environmental certification | Flour-based products WTB > whole insect products. No different WTB: - Transparent vs. opaque packaging - cacao flavor (Food Neophobia increased WTB for cacao flavor presence) - high protein claim - environmental certification | [87] |
Italians (n.128) Danish (n.136) | Communication of societal benefits and individual benefits ITE | Communication increased ITE. Danish participants had higher ITE than Italians. | [60] |
Italian (n.543) Danish (n.975) | EAQ (EAQ-I; EAQ-D; EAQ-F) Disgust Scale FNS WTE | Negative relation EAQ-F vs. WTE, found only in the Danish population. Danish: EAQ-I main predictor. Regression coefficient EAQ-D vs. WTE is much smaller than that of EAQ-I. Italians: no such great difference between predictive power of EAQ-D and EAQ-I on WTE. | [88] |
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Toti, E.; Massaro, L.; Kais, A.; Aiello, P.; Palmery, M.; Peluso, I. Entomophagy: A Narrative Review on Nutritional Value, Safety, Cultural Acceptance and A Focus on the Role of Food Neophobia in Italy. Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2020, 10, 628-643. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe10020046
Toti E, Massaro L, Kais A, Aiello P, Palmery M, Peluso I. Entomophagy: A Narrative Review on Nutritional Value, Safety, Cultural Acceptance and A Focus on the Role of Food Neophobia in Italy. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education. 2020; 10(2):628-643. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe10020046
Chicago/Turabian StyleToti, Elisabetta, Luca Massaro, Aisha Kais, Paola Aiello, Maura Palmery, and Ilaria Peluso. 2020. "Entomophagy: A Narrative Review on Nutritional Value, Safety, Cultural Acceptance and A Focus on the Role of Food Neophobia in Italy" European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education 10, no. 2: 628-643. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe10020046