foods Article Consumers’ Perspectives on Eggs from Insect-Fed Hens: A UK Focus Group Study Sabrina Spartano 1 and Simona Grasso 2, *   Citation: Spartano, S.; Grasso, S. Consumers’ Perspectives on Eggs from Insect-Fed Hens: A UK Focus Group Study. Foods 2021, 10, 420. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020420 Academic Editor: María Del Mar Campo Arribas Received: 31 January 2021 Accepted: 9 February 2021 Published: 14 February 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Applied Economics and Marketing, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6EU, UK; sabrina.spartano@hotmail.it 2 School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6EU, UK * Correspondence: simona.grasso@ucdconnect.ie; Tel.: +44-118-378-6576 Abstract: In recent years, there has been growing interest in insects as an alternative to soybean meal as laying hen feed due to nutrition, sustainability, and animal welfare benefits. Although some studies have investigated consumer acceptance and intentions towards insect-fed foodstuffs, no studies are available on eggs from insect-fed hens. This qualitative study aimed to explore consumers’ attitudes and perceptions towards eggs from insect-fed hens and factors influencing intentions to consume and purchase the product. Three focus group discussions were employed with a total of 19 individuals from the UK. Results showed that the environmental, animal welfare, and food waste benefits of feeding hens with insects positively influenced attitudes. Results also indicated price and disgust towards insects as feed were the main barriers, while enhanced welfare standards (e.g., free-range labelling) and information on benefits were main drivers. Therefore, the study suggests that educating and informing consumers about the benefits of feeding hens with insects may increase intentions to consume and purchase eggs from insect-fed hens. Given this emerging area of research, this study contributes to the limited literature on insect-fed foodstuffs and paves the way for further research on the topic. Keywords: animal welfare; circular economy; consumer acceptance; consumer attitudes; food waste; insects as feed; Nvivo; poultry; qualitative study; sustainability 1. Introduction In the last decade, edible insects have received growing interest as a sustainable al- ternative source of protein, as both food and animal feed, because of their environmental, nutritional, and animal welfare benefits [1]. In the context of poultry farming and egg pro- duction, the use of insects reduces the environmental burden associated with producing traditional feed such as soya, utilises food that would otherwise go to waste, and increases welfare by encouraging natural behaviour without affecting egg quality or taste [2]. Eating insects is a natural behaviour for chickens. When raised in a natural or semi- natural environment (e.g., free-range), chickens spend part of their time foraging and eating insects [2,3]. The European Union has allowed the use of live insects as feed for poultry since 2017 [4]. Although some insect-fed animal foodstuffs have entered the European market (e.g., Oerei eggs in the Netherlands), these products are still considered niche [5]. In the UK, there is a great deal of interest from scientists and companies to produce insects for animal feed. The UK thus represents a potential market for insect-fed eggs and other animal products, although there will likely be a need for regulatory clarification in a post-EU environment [6]. In recent years, consumers have shown increasing acceptance for insect-fed foodstuffs, in particular for insect-fed fish and chicken [7–15]. However, given the novelty of insects as feed, it is perhaps unsurprising that research in this area is limited. The available Foods 2021, 10, 420. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020420 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/foods