A descriptive sensory evaluation of edible insects in Czechia: do the species and size matter?

Our recently conducted questionnaire survey focused on the acceptance of insects by Czech respondents and revealed different preferences between the consumption of whole and ground insects. To identify whether the species and size may affect the acceptance of insects, small and large species of Blattodea, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera were assessed in their whole form and as ground meals in white bread and chocolate cookies by a panel of 16 trained panelists. The hedonic ranking test of whole fried and salted insects showed that Tenebrio molitor was the best choice. According to the paired preference test, smaller insects were preferred in the case of Orthoptera and Coleoptera, but larger cockroaches were rated better than smaller ones. The overall acceptability of insect meal in food products was higher than that of whole insects. Only bread containing Tenebrio molitor and Gryllus assimilis meals were comparable to those of the control, whereas no significant differences were detected among the cookie samples. Conclusively, it was proven that the acceptance of whole insects is influenced more by species than size, and all tested meals can be used to fortify confectionary products with no adverse effects on their liking.

本研究近期针对捷克受访者的昆虫接受度开展了一项问卷调查，结果显示整虫与虫粉两种食用方式的偏好存在显著差异。为明确昆虫物种与体型是否会影响其接受度，本研究选取了蜚蠊目（Blattodea）、鞘翅目（Coleoptera）及直翅目（Orthoptera）的大、小型物种，分别以整虫形态及磨制虫粉形式添加至白面包与巧克力曲奇中，由16名经过培训的感官评价员开展评估。对油炸盐渍整虫的喜好性排序测试结果显示，黄粉虫（Tenebrio molitor）是最优选择。通过配对偏好测试发现，直翅目与鞘翅目昆虫更受青睐的是小型个体，但大型蟑螂的评分高于小型蟑螂。食品中添加虫粉的整体接受度显著高于整虫类产品。仅添加黄粉虫（Tenebrio molitor）与家蟋蟀（Gryllus assimilis）虫粉的面包可与对照组产品相媲美，而曲奇样品间未检测到显著差异。综上，本研究证实整虫的接受度受物种影响的程度大于体型，且所有经测试的虫粉均可用于强化焙烤食品，且不会对产品的适口性产生负面影响。