Insetos como Fonte Alternativa de Proteína Animal: Antecedentes da Intenção de Consumo

Abstract

The consumption of food and nutritionally richer food gains scientific prominence due to food insecurity and unpredictability about the future. For this reason, several areas of knowledge are advancing and good alternative sources of protein, like insects, are now more studied, produced, and transformed into innumerable food products. Although regions and countries entomophagy, the consumption of insects by humans is older or a cultural habit rooted in the population, in other locations it is considered innovative, different, or even correlated with aspects of strangeness and disgust. To deepen the research in relation to the intention to consume insect-based food, an adapted TPB Model (Theory of Planned Behavior) was used. A sample not studied in the literature of practitioners of physical activities and consumers of protein supplements was delimited. The application of online questionnaires was conducted in order to investigate and analyze attitudinal, normative beliefs and the perceived risk in behavioral intention with structural equation modeling (MEE / SEM). As a result, the main variables of the model were values of media (subjective norms), health (attitude), and perceived risk (negatively to intention). The adapted TPB Model proved to be suitable for the investigation of intention, in which the nine latent hypotheses tested were accepted. Due to the complexity of consumer behavior, further research is needed. Marketing suggestions were made for the products in the studied niche. The research emphasizes that alternative protein sources, such as insects, contribute socially, create opportunities, and enable developments.