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There are a lot of benefits of consuming insects, it can provide a nutritious benefits to many malnourished people in the developing countries and more so in Kenya where there is high risk of under nutrition. With the popularity of cricket's nutrient density, biscuit supplementation with insect nutrients can be an effective vehicle to deliver these insect ingredients as well as improve on acceptability. Due to the rising cost of animal protein, food insecurity high cost of animal feed, environmental stress, population growth and increasing demand for protein among the middle classes.
Insects as food and feed emerge as an important, alternative solutions to alternative protein sources. The objective of this study is to develop cricket based biscuit, and determine its nutritional value, its acceptability and willingness to pay among school going children and their care givers in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study will be a experimental study. Forty six children aged 5-10 years will be served 98- 102 g of cricket-based biscuits (experimental group) and wheat biscuit (control) during school days for four weeks.
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Five scale hedonic ratings will be performed. Consumer acceptability and willingness to pay will be done by direct survey; Suggesting different prices step by step bidding and conjoint analysis of product preference. The result will be discussed and presented in graphs and tables.
Several food technologies have emerged recently giving rise to new food products on the market. These new foods are based on sound scientific research, though their success in the market depends largely on how they are perceived by the food supply chain actors, and more so consumers' acceptability (Maina, 2018).
Acceptability is determining how well a new food will be received by the target population and to what extent the new food or its components will meet the needs of the target population and organizational setting. Willingness to pay (WTP) On the other hand, is the maximum amount an individual is willing to sacrifice to procure a good or avoid something displeasing (Petljak, Stulec, & Renko, 2017). The cost of any goods transaction will therefore be any point between consumer's willingness to pay and a seller's willingness to sell.
Quality (nutrition security) and quantity (food security) are very important aspect in acceptability and willingness to pay (WTP) (Xiong et al., 2018). All micronutrients are important trace nutrients in nutrition security. However, protein which is a major nutrient is one of the main nutrients required by humans and especially children because protein deficiency leads malnutrition and especially in cases of undernourishment (Maina, 2018).
Undernourishment which remains a major threat to children existence, growth and development of Kenyan children (FAO et al., 2018). This has been caused by poor nutrition in infancy and early childhood. It has also increased the risk of infant child mortality and morbidity (Kamenwa, 2017). Furthermore, malnutrition causes decreased cognitive and physical development marked by poor performance in school and hence impacting negatively on productivity later in life (Halloran et al., 2018). Inadequate food intake and diseases are the greatest contributor of malnutrition. In fact a study by (Komey, 2016), includes other underlying factors to malnutrition which include poor maternal /child care practices, household food insecurity and inadequate health services. In the Kenya prevalence of malnutrition, characterized by stunting early in life in children has been protein (Gillespie & van den Bold, 2017).
Consumption of animal proteins is rated higher in protein quality, as well as high in thiamine therefore preferred by many people. These animal proteins are however expensive and not easily available (Carolyne et al., 2017). The high cost of animal protein is partly contributed by increasing demand for animal protein directly attributed to sharp population rise (Christina et al., 2017). Recent studies by (Cai et al., 2018) highlighted the environmental benefits of reducing the animal-sourced foods in our diets and also urged that such dietary changes could lead to improved health.
Insects are an important human food source, especially in developing countries, more so in converting plant foods into animal protein, and their fairly low environment impact (Ruby & Rozin, 2019). Indeed with world population growing rapidly, production of sufficient protein from livestock, poultry, and fish possess a serious challenge for the future generations. Evidently most edible insects species are non-toxic, and therefore can serve as a source of high-quality protein and micronutrients (Halloran et al., 2018), one such insects is crickets. Cricket is more economical with high quality source protein and has been successfully used in flour fortification used in bun making.
Biscuits consumption is in the list of top ten daily consumed foods, and especially in school going children because, they are easily available and convenient to be enjoyed as a snack (Al-Marazeeq & Angor, 2017). In recent days attempts have been made to improve the nutritional qualities and functionalities of the biscuits, due to competition in the market for more natural, healthy and functional products (Ebere & Emelike, 2015). Therefore biscuit requires a balanced nutritional value which can be enhanced by fortification and supplementation with a wide variety of protein rich cereal and pulses (Dignity et al., 2017).
Insects are potentially important source of protein same or higher to that of conventional protein sources, such as meat, without stressing the environment (Pambo et al., 2018). Crickets have high levels of proteins and therefore considered a 'meat' hence compared with a common meat i.e. pork. Indeed cricket has been known to contain high amount of protein and also to be rich in non-heme iron which is more bioavailable.
However despite these benefits, the acceptance (use) of edible insects as food is still low, even in communities that traditionally consumed them (Sidali et al., 2019). In fact, studies have suggested that consumer' acceptability of edible insects can be enhanced by blending them with familiar food products as this will result in changes in sensory attributes (Tan HuiShan, 2017). Therefore, biscuits being a convenient snack and highly appreciated especially by children, can be a good vehicle to enhance acceptability of insect-based food and hence the need for this study.
Insect consumption has been practiced in many parts of the world since time memorial. They have been eaten at different life-stages using various preparation methods including raw, fried, boiled, roasted and ground. It has been estimated that insects eating is practiced in at least 113 countries and around 2 billion people consume insects globally, with over 2000 documented edible insect species (van Huis & Oonincx, 2017). At times in parts of Central Africa, up to 50% of dietary proteins are from insects, they also have high market value than many alternative animal sources.
In Kenya insects' consumption is practiced more in western part of the country. Termites, lake flies, grasshoppers, locust ants and crickets are eaten live or dry-roasted
Insects have high fecundity rates, year-round breeding, increased conversion rates, reduced environmental impact due to low greenhouse gas emissions, they also require small breeding space; Insects have also the ability to recycle organic and or agricultural byproducts to livestock feed. Beside these environmental benefits, insects are also very nutritious; they are, especially rich in high-quality protein (WHO, 2018). In fact, methionine and cysteine which are essential amino acids, the house crickets contain the recommended daily intake by World Health Organization.
Despite these facts, consumption of insects by many communities in Kenya is still low. This is because most consumers react with disgust and rejection as they are considered culturally inappropriate and food consumed by the less fortunate. Whereas, traditional food preparation methods such as roasting or frying are frequently used to prepare tastier dishes, insects often remain whole therefore still unappealing for consumption yet, products and consuming insects is one such peculiar way of meeting the world's rising food consumption levels as well as reducing malnutrition. Reducing Agricultural land and unfavorable weather conditions have confined the global cultivation of crops to such an extent that researchers are coming up with alternative nutritious and convenient foods and consuming insects is one such sustainable way of meeting global food demand.
In developing country like Kenya where cases of food insecurity and child malnutrition is still problematic, it will be interesting to explore alternative and cheap sources of protein. However, there is need for studies on consumer product acceptability and willingness to pay for insects as human diet when masked in familiar foods. Masking of the insects makes them invisible and may promote insect consumption. What is also still not clear is consumers' preference for specific insect-based products having different attributes in a non-hypothetical market and hence the use of a popular consumed food-based product such as biscuits. Biscuits are tasty snack, they have long shelf life, they don't need further preparation and are highly appreciated by young children. This snack therefore can be a convenient vehicle which can be used in fortification and sensory modification of insect-based products. Therefore they can act as a mean to promote insect consumption in many communities by masking them with other ingredients.
Though Many studies that have been done in Kenya on acceptability of edible insects (Alemu et al., 2015), (Homann, 2015), little attention has been given to regions where they show reluctance in consuming edible insects or there is less insect consumption. This study therefore will address how acceptability of insects as food by consumers may be achieved especially in regions where there is reluctance in edible insect consumption.
With the increase cases of food insecurity and malnutrition, Insects could be a suitable and sustainable solution. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that, insects can be a substitute protein source over that of animal. Furthermore raising them for food is generally much more sustainable than more commonly consumed animals' sources e.g. cows, pigs, and chickens in terms of feed efficiency, greenhouse gas emission, required space, and water use. On other hand, meat production is responsible for well-known environmental pressure, gas emission, high production cost and inefficient conversion of plant protein to meat protein.
Therefore there is need for turnaround which could be perhaps by a reduction in animals' meat portion, and encouragement of alternative high-quality protein with less stressing to the environment. However consumer unacceptability of alternative sources of high-quality protein sources such as insects is one of the key barriers to realizing the benefits of insect consumption. Therefore this study's aim is to address how consumer acceptability of insects as food would be achieved, as well as willingness to pay especially in regions where it is less practiced.
The main objective of this study is to investigate acceptability and willingness to pay for cricket-based biscuits among school going children and their caregivers in Kenya.
The specific objectives of the study will be:
i. To develop and assess the physico-chemical properties of cricket-based biscuits.
ii. To evaluate the organoleptic properties of cricket biscuits among school going children.
iii. To evaluate consumers' acceptability and willingness to pay for the cricket- based biscuits developed among the school going children and care givers.
New Food Products On The Market. (2019, Dec 08). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/new-food-products-on-the-market-essay
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