Whether going fully vegan or embracing a more ‘flexitarian’ lifestyle, consumers are switching to plantbased food options in ever-increasing numbers. With 9 billion people to feed in the world in 2050, there are many reasons why: from perceived benefits for people’s own health and wellbeing, to concerns about animal welfare and the environmental impact of meat farming, or just the desire to be ‘on trend’.Interview with Fred van de Velde, professor and researcher at HAS University of Applied Science.
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Due to the environmental and nutritional benefits of insects, their consumption would be one of the solutions to feed the growing human population. Despite the increasing interest in the use of insects as food and feed, consumer acceptance is the major obstacle to successful implementation in Western countries and we studied the factors that influence consumer acceptance in a group of university students from Germany and the Netherlands. In this exploratory research, a survey was conducted (n = 222). Socio‐demographic and psychological factors were established from a theoretical review. In addition, we elaborated on questions regarding information on the health and environmental benefits of consuming insects. Initially, the data obtained are presented through descriptive statistics. The influence of the socio‐demographic and psychological factors, and the information on the willingness to accept insects as animal feed and human food was analyzed using correlations and multiple linear regressions. Results showed more willingness to accept insects as animal feed than in human food. The acceptance among German and Dutch students seems to be driven by issues similar to those in other European countries, such as visual aspects and knowledge about the benefits. The effect of the information on willingness constitutes an important finding of this study, especially for the use of insects in animal feed, since most of the previous studies have focused on the use of insects as human food. Our data support the need to inform and educate consumers about the environmental and health benefits of entomophagy. We conclude that effective efforts to implement entomophagy could increase the level of familiarity with the insect food and inform (or educate) consumers about its benefits. Insights from this study are useful to address studies focusing on specific segments of possible early adopters and consequently addressing communication strategies in this market segmentation.
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Due to a growing challenge to feed the world’s population and an increased awareness to minimize the impact of our food choices on climate change, a more plant-based diet has gained popularity with a growing number of plant-based products on the market. To stimulate a plant-based diet that also improves long-term health, data are needed to monitor whether these products are healthy alternatives to animal-based foods. Therefore, this study inventoried 916 plant-based meat, fish, and dairy alternatives from eight Dutch supermarkets. The nutritional quality of each product was assessed by (1) the Dutch food-based dietary guidelines and (2) the Nutri-Score. The results show that over 70% of meat, fish, and dairy alternatives have an A/B Nutri-Score (indicating high nutritional quality), but do not comply with the Dutch dietary guidelines. This is mainly due to high salt and low vitamin B12 and iron content (meat and fish alternatives) or low protein and calcium levels (dairy alternatives). In conclusion, the majority of plant-based products are nutritionally not full alternatives of the animal-based equivalents; however, there are still opportunities for reformulation. To aid the consumer in making healthy plant-based food choices, a better alignment between the Nutri-Score and the recommended dietary guidelines is needed.
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