Consumer Attitudes and Acceptability of Wheat Pancakes with the Addition of Edible Insects: Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), Buffalo Worm (Alphitobius diaperinus), and Cricket (Acheta domesticus)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the degree of acceptability of wheat pancakes with the addition of 10%, 20%, and 30% meal from three edible insect species (Alphitobius diaperinus, Tenebrio molitor, Acheta domesticus, respectively). Both consumer attitudes and the acceptability of the test samples were analysed. The study results show that the amount of additive had a statistically significant effect on all of the organoleptic evaluation’s distinguishing features, while the type of additive did not have such a significant effect on the level of consumer acceptability. Both the type and amount of the additive only had a statistically significant effect on the structure of the pancakes. Of all the variants, the sample with the addition of 30% crickets (Pref-2.51) was given the lowest score. An increase in the insect meal content of the products resulted in decreased scores for all the parameters under assessment. The key element that influenced the overall preference was the flavour. Even though the respondents declared positive attitudes towards the idea of consuming pancakes with the addition of insects and entomophagy in general, they were still reluctant to include insects in their diets.

Alphitobius diaperinus larvae (lesser mealworm) as human food – An approval of the European Commission – A critical review

“…Kostecka et al (2017) also reported that approximately 37% of participants in Poland found products with processed insects, such as insect flour, to be acceptable for introduction in the market (Kostecka et al, 2017). Based on the study by Mazurek et al (2022), consumer acceptability can be significantly influenced by the form of the insects, specifically their flavour, and the way in which they were presented. The studies used lesser mealworm powder as a flavour in preparing wheat pancakes.…”

“…Hence, it can be said that not all consumers in European countries are ready for insect-based food, and additional factors need to be considered before commercialization. Factors such as food disgust, neophobia, and seeking sensation have been identified as predictors of the acceptance of edible insects, and these factors will be discussed further in the product section (Mazurek et al, 2022).…”

“…Exceeding this limit could affect the bread quality, especially the carbohydrate content (Skotnicka et al, 2022). Lesser mealworms consist of approximately 60% protein (Roncolini et al, 2020), and several studies (Brynning et al, 2020;Mazurek et al, 2022;Roncolini et al, 2020;Skotnicka et al, 2022) have demonstrated that up to 30% of lesser mealworms were added to replace the wheat flour for the production of bread and rusk. However, it is essential to note that increasing the amount of lesser mealworm could lead to a decline in bread quality due to the reduction in carbohydrate content (Brynning et al, 2020).…”

Insect Protein as a Component of Meat Analogue Burger

“…Consuming insects has the potential to alleviate animal suffering in comparison to the consumption of conventional livestock. In addition to the aforementioned environmental advantages, insects possess significant nutritional value, as they are notably abundant in high-quality protein that consist of crucial amino acids, such as tryptophan lysine, tryptophan, and threonine [27,28].…”

Attitudes and purchase intentions of polish university students towards food made from insects—A modelling approach

“…Attempts undertaken so far in this respect should be deemed insufficient; therefore, there is a need to continue and expand research in this field. Many innovative projects and concepts related to the development of insect-based food products, including muffins, pa ˆte ´s, corn extrudates, pancakes, sponge cake, and bars [23,69,[77][78][79][80][81], have been elaborated, and their results are being implemented across Poland. Nevertheless, there is a cognitive gap in the Polish and central and eastern European scientific literature in this field.…”