Food Safety and Insect Food: A Preliminary Consumers’ Indication

Food safety is a topic of central importance in the European context. Since the 1960s, the European Union (EU) has established numerous rules to guarantee the hygienic and sanitary protection of food products and, therefore, the health of consumers. In this sense, EU legislation has introduced an integrated approach to food safety, including information on food products and animal welfare, regulating the stages of the food chain, and offering consumers several pieces of information. Over the past few years, however, the European legislature has regulated the breeding of insects for the production of food for human consumption. In this context, the present paper aims to investigate the perception and behavior of consumers on food safety issues in light of the introduction of insects as food for human consumption. A preliminary survey of a sample of consumers was conducted, and the results show that food safety is an important feature in the process of purchasing food products. Moreover, some differences emerge in terms of insect food confidence related to food safety perception.