Exploring Perception and Acceptance of Edible Insects as a Protein Source

Edible insects are increasingly getting attention as an attractive source of protein due to their high protein quality and sustainability of their production compared to traditional sources of meat. However, consumers, especially Western consumers, may be aversive to eating insects (Tan et al., 2015). In order to encourage consumers towards sustainable sources of protein, it is crucial to examine the factors that shape consumers perception of edible insects. The goal of this research is to understand which factors affect acceptance of different protein sources, more specifically insect protein. In order to do so, we compared perceptions of protein bars with one of the three labels (insect, soy, or whey) in an exploratory experiment (N=78). The experiment was a 3 (protein type: whey vs. soy vs. insect) × 2 (order: evaluate-taste vs. taste-evaluate) between subjects design. In the experiment, one third of the participants were told that the protein bar sample they received had 10 grams of protein vs. soy pr...