'Yuck factor' putting people off eating insects to help save the planet, study finds

People unlikely to switch from eating environmentally disastrous traditional meat because they remain repulsed by the idea of eating insects, research found

Public polling in the US and Europe has found while as many as 91% of respondents would be willing to try plant-based “alternative meats”, only about 20% would consider eating insects.

Recent efforts to encourage people to eat insects are doomed to fail because of widespread public disgust at the idea, making it unlikely insects will help people switch from the environmentally ruinous habit of meat consumption, a new study has found.

Farming and eating insects has been touted in recent years as a greener alternative to eating traditional meat due to the heavy environmental toll of raising livestock, which is a leading driver of deforestation, responsible for more than half of global water pollution, and may cause more than a third of all greenhouse gases that can be allowed if the world is to avoid disastrous climate change, the new research finds.