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The interest in adopting more sustainable diets can be a driver for consumers to engage the consumption of edible insects, even in countries where they are not culturally accepted as food. This work aimed to study the perceptions and knowledge of consumers in different countries towards edible insects and their relation with environment and sustainability. The present investigation was based on a questionnaire survey (11 questions) and this descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on a non-probabilistic sample of 7221 participants from 14 countries. The participants in the survey revealed high knowledge (over 50%) about the sustainability issues related with edible insects as food. The sociodemographic variables education, sex and age are influential, by decreasing order of importance. Regarding living environment, rural areas have the lowest percentage of informed participants. Comparing countries, statistically significant differences were observed for all questions, making this the most important predictor for information about sustainability of edible insects. This is expected, having in mind that cultural influences are highly variable among the set of countries included in the study, with a high number of European countries, but also with Latin American countries like Mexico or Brazil, or Middle East countries like Turkey or Lebanon. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Resumo: Introdução – O consumo de insetos é uma prática tradicional ao longo da história humana, mas o seu consumo é muito variável de acordo com a região do globo. Objetivos – Pretendeu-se investigar o nível de conhecimento sobre insetos comestíveis numa amostra de participantes de treze países. Métodos – Os dados foram recolhidos em 2021 por questionário online. Obtiveram-se 6899 respostas válidas. Para a análise dos dados usou-se análise fatorial, análise de clusters e testes qui-quadrado. Resultados – Foram usados 27 itens para medir o conhecimento, utilizando uma escala do tipo Likert de cinco pontos. Aplicando análise fatorial obteve-se uma solução que explica 55% da variância total observada. Esta inclui 4 fatores que retiveram 22 dos 27 itens iniciais: F1 = Sustentabilidade (8 it); F2 = Nutrição (8 it); F3 = Fatores de Produção (2 it); F4 = Preocupações com a Saúde (4 it). A análise de clusters produziu três grupos de participantes (indivíduos 'receosos', 'agricultores' e 'ecológicos'). A caracterização dos clusters revelou que a idade não influenciou a inclusão nos clusters, enquanto sexo, escolaridade, país, meio onde reside, área profissional e rendimento influenciaram a composição dos clusters. Conclusões – O nível de conhecimento sobre insetos comestíveis é altamente variável de acordo com as características individuais e localização geográfica. Por outro lado, a segmentação permitiu identificar 3 tipos de indivíduos, 'receosos', 'agricultores' e 'ecológicos'. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In recent years, insects have been suggested as an alternative source of animal protein, and a more sustainable way to provide the needs in protein of the growing world population. Edible insects are nutritive foods, rich in macronutrients and particularly protein and fat, but also contain micronutrients important for many body functions, such as vitamins and dietary minerals. The project "EISuFood – Study about food habits and knowledge about edible insects as sustainable foods" is developed in different countries and aims to study the habits, knowledge, and perceptions of consumers in different social and cultural contexts to edible insects. The project was approved by the CERNAS-IPV Research Centre at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, in December 2020, and the Principal investigator and leader of the international team is Raquel Guiné. The project involves a total of 69 researchers in the 18 participating countries (Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, with Portugal being the leader country). The project involves four tasks as follows: 1. Preparation of the instruments for data collection ; 2. Collection of data in the 18 countries ; 3. Analysis of the data ; and 4. Preparation of scientific outputs and dissemination of results. The questionnaire used in the project addresses seven different dimensions: Culture and Tradition, Gastronomic Innovation and Gourmet Kitchen, Environment and Sustainability, Economic and Social Aspects, Commercialization and Marketing, Nutritional Aspects and, finally, Health Effects. The questionnaire was prepared by the whole international team and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Polytechnic of Viseu with Reference No. 45/SUB/2021. An initial screening involved the validation for the Portuguese sample1, before global application in all countries. The validation of this questionnaire confirms its usefulness for investigating consumer perceptions of and knowledge about edible insects, making possible its application in different countries

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A versatile sample pretreatment method for the honey matrix is still needed for any proteomic-based investigations. Invertase and diastase are the most important enzymes in the maturation of pine honey and the origin of these enzymes are attributed to the bee\"s hypopharyngeal glands (HPG). In our study, we aimed to isolate and enrich these enzymes as model proteins representing the honey proteome in an efficient and practical way. As authenticity comparison, isolating the same enzymes from HPG samples was also accomplished. For yielding pine honey crude protein isolate, as a tandem two-step approach, stirred cell ultrafiltration followed by centrifugal ultrafiltration (CUF) protocol was determined after experimental optimization. HPGs were dissected from the Apis mellifera L. and proteins were extracted by using a bead beater followed by concentration using CUF. Protein profiles of pine honey and HPG were compared by SDS-PAGE. The resulting protein concentrations, enzyme activities, and the cleaning efficiencies of the applied techniques were evaluated and optimized using the Bradford assay, modified enzyme activity assays, and sugar profiling method developed at HPLC-RID. The novel pretreatment method provided invertase at 1055.1 U/kg activity and diastase at 693.3 Shade U/g activity with yields of 900.9% and 2432.6%, respectively. The final crude protein isolate can be interpreted as reference material at any authenticity and quality assays of honey. The obtained crude protein extract will pave the way for high throughput proteomic investigations at the honey matrix. Furthermore, this template methodology could be scaled up in the industry for natural enzyme production.

Streptomycin (STR) and dihydrostreptomycin (DSTR) are the typically encountered aminoglycoside (AMG) residues in honey. For AMG analysis, studies in literature involve impractical and expensive applications such as ion-pairing chromatography, immunoassays, pre and post column derivatizations, or SPE approaches. Pre -treatments of these methods are toilsome and costly. Herein, one-pot, aqueous in-situ derivatization method was presented as a superior protocol. Time and cost-efficient UHPLC-MS/MS method has been developed, and practical sample preparation was introduced. Satisfactory results were reported in method verification studies. The mean recovery values were 102.6% for STR and 101.3% for DSTR. Average values between 1.5% and 9.9% RSDs were found at intra and inter-day precisions. CC alpha (5.7 and 5.8 mu g/kg) and CC beta (6.2 and 6.4 mu g/kg) values were calculated for STR and DSTR respectively. AMG residues were found in 29 out of 110 analyzed samples using validated method. Described novelty enabled comprehensive analysis in an inexpensive and straightfor-ward manner.