Background

Edible insects are considered a new alternative sustainable source of proteins that exhibits higher feed-conversion efficiency and has a less negative environmental impact, compared to conventional animal-derived protein sources. Highly nutritional edible insects may help solve issues of global malnutrition and food insecurity, while byproducts have the potential for practical application in the food industry, agriculture, and medicine. Despite these numerous benefits, negative attitudes toward insects as food exist in societies where it is not part of their culture to consume insects, raising barriers to the wider introduction of edible insects in the diet on a regular basis.

Scope and approach

In this review, we discuss the sensory characteristics, such as flavor and texture, of edible insect and insect-based foods, their contribution to consumers’ attitudes toward edible insects, and approaches to alter the quality of sensory attributes—from insect farming and processing to novel product formulation and taste education.

Key findings and conclusions

Sensory and visual characteristics of edible insects, and availability of information on their origin and safety, are important factors in consumer appeal and their willingness to try eating insects in the future. Flavor and texture of edible insects depend largely on the insect species, its development stage, and the way it is processed. Recent findings on insect production, processing, and formulation of insect-based foods, as well as ways to increase familiarity with edible insects, demonstrate the potential to enhance the acceptability of insects as a novel food.

中文翻译：

---

食用昆虫和昆虫食品的感官特性–增强消费者吸引力的未来前景

背景

与传统的动物来源的蛋白质来源相比，食用昆虫被认为是一种新型的可持续蛋白质替代来源，具有更高的饲料转化效率，并且对环境的负面影响较小。营养高的可食用昆虫可能有助于解决全球营养不良和粮食不安全的问题，而副产品具有在食品工业，农业和医药中实际应用的潜力。尽管有许多好处，但在社会中仍然存在对昆虫作为食物的消极态度，在这些社会中，食用昆虫不是其昆虫的一部分，这为定期在饮食中广泛引入可食用昆虫提供了障碍。

范围和方法

在这篇综述中，我们讨论了食用昆虫和昆虫食品的感官特性，例如风味和质地，它们对消费者对食用昆虫态度的贡献以及改变感官属性质量的方法（从昆虫的耕种和加工过程）进行新颖的产品配方和品味教育。

主要发现和结论

食用昆虫的感官和视觉特征，以及有关其起源和安全性的信息的可用性，是影响消费者吸引力以及其将来尝试食用昆虫的意愿的重要因素。食用昆虫的风味和质地在很大程度上取决于昆虫的种类，发育阶段和加工方式。关于昆虫的生产，加工和基于昆虫的食物的配制的最新发现，以及增加对食用昆虫的熟悉程度的方法，证明了增强昆虫作为一种新型食物的可接受性的潜力。