Behavior of Brazilian consumers in relation to entomophagy and sensory evaluation of hybrid meat products with insect meal

• Grant number: 22/08315-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Technology
• Principal Investigator: Marco Antonio Trindade
• Grantee: Marco Antonio Trindade
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Pirassununga , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant(s): 23/08310-0 - Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (UMH - Spain) and University of Sao Paulo (FZEA/USP - Brazil) looking for new sources of ingredients in the development of sustainable meat products, AP.R SPRINT
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/02271-3 - Behavior of Brazilian consumers in relation to entomophagy and sensory evaluation of hybrid meat products with insect meal, BP.TT

Abstract

Currently, new foods must be introduced to the market to tackle the concerns of a lack of protein sources, and insects hold promise for feeding the expanding global population without compromising sustainability. Making the population adapt and accept the idea of eating insects will be the implications and future challenges for the industry. The development of hybrid meat products with insect meal, however, has a great potential to meet consumer expectations because Brazilian consumers have a strong tradition of consuming meat products, since the sensory attributes expected in the consumption of hybrid meat products will have characteristics similar to those of meat products. Based on this knowledge, the study's goal is to investigate possible opportunities for the growth of insect consumption in Brazil, as well as consumer perceptions of entomophagy and neophobia, and also possible alternatives for increasing product familiarity and acceptance, such as the use of hybrid meat products with insect meal. Three studies will be conducted to accomplish this goal: the first will collect information on entomophagy and neophobia using projective techniques - complement method from at least 800 respondents across Brazil, and it will be made available online. The second study will be conducted at the Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering (FZEA) and will involve focus group meetings with participation from seven to eleven people in each group, totaling six focus groups that represent the various socioeconomic strata in Brazil. These first two studies are aimed at Brazilian adults with different food preferences. The results will be discussed using verbal statements and/or conceptual networks verified by the triangulation method. The third and final study is about sensory evaluation of hybrid meat products (sausages and hamburgers), which will be done at the Laboratory of Sensory Analysis of Food at FZEA/USP by a trained professional tasting panel of 10 to 12 people and through affective acceptance tests for which 120 evaluators will be recruited. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey tests will be performed to compare the means of treatments with a P value of < 0.05. This project will be submitted to the Research Ethics Committee of FZEA/USP. (AU)