Emotion can reflect in the perception of food consumption. An increase in food intake during emotional and psychological conditions may have a negative impact on human health. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the associations between food consumption, emotional eating behavior, and emotional conditions such as stress, depression, loneliness, boredom eating, maintaining vigilance and alertness, and emotional food consolation. We used a Motivations for Food Choices Questionnaire (Eating Motivations, EATMOT) to determine the emotional aspects of food consumption in 9052 respondents living in 12 European countries between October 2017 and March 2018. Ordinal linear regression was used to identify the associations between the emotional eating behavior and emotional conditions such as stress, depression, loneliness, emotional consolation, and reasons to improve physical and psychological conditions. The regression models confirmed the associations between food consumption, emotional conditions, and emotional eating behavior. Associations were found between the emotional eating behavior and stress (odds ratio (OR) = 1.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07–1.60, p = 0.010), depressive mood (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.40–1.43, p < 0.001), loneliness (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.58–1.62, p < 0.001), boredom (OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.36–1.39, p < 0.001), and emotional consolation (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.54–1.57, p < 0.001). Emotional eating was associated with an effort to improve physical and psychological conditions, such as controlling body weight (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.10–1.12, p < 0.001), keeping awake and alert (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.19–1.20, p < 0.001) and consumption to feel good (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.21–1.22, p < 0.001). In conclusion, emotions might provoke emotional eating behavior. The appropriate way to handle stress, depression, or other emotional states is important in conditions of being emotionally overwhelmed. The public should be educated on how to handle different emotional states. The focus should be moved somehow from emotional eating and the consumption of unhealthy food to healthy lifestyle practices, including regular exercise and healthy eating habits. Thus, it is necessary to halt these negative health effects on human health through public health programs.

This work intended to explore some motivations that influence people’s eating habits towards sustainability. This was an observational, cross-sectional study, carried out by questionnaire survey on a non-probabilistic sample of 10,067 participants from 13 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and United States). Results indicated that people prefer fresh local foods from the season, being important because it allows transportation and storage to be reduced, which in many cases implies refrigeration systems and consequent energy expenditure. Although people avoid food waste at home, the awareness for the waste at restaurants still needs to be improved. Consumers seem to prefer foods that have been produced and packed in sustainable ways but still give importance to the package—understandable for food products. The results also indicated significant differences in the food choice motivations between groups for all sociodemographic variables tested (age, sex, marital status, education, professional area, living environment and country), but the association was high only for variable country. Additionally, a tree classification analysis allowed to identify the relative importance of the influential variables on the sustainable food choices, with country being the most important, followed by age and sex. Additionally, discriminant function analysis allowed establishing a model for the relation between country and six variables accounting for preservation of biodiversity, respect for life, save natural resources, save energy, reduce industrial pollution and minimal packaging. Although with some limitations, this study brings valuable insight into some aspects linked with sustainable food choices on a number of countries and how people shape their food choices according to some sustainability issues.

This study aimed to investigate the level of knowledge about edible insects (EIs) in a sample of people from thirteen countries (Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey). Data collection was based on a questionnaire survey applied through online tools between July and November 2021. For data analysis, techniques such as factor analysis, cluster analysis, and chi-square tests were used, with a significance level of 5%. A total of 27 items were used to measure knowledge on a five-point Likert scale. Applying factor analysis with principal components and Varimax rotation, a solution that explains about 55% of variance was obtained. This accounts for four factors that retained 22 of the 27 initial items: F1 = Sustainability (8 items), F2 = Nutrition (8 items), F3 = Production Factors (2 items), and F4 = Health Concerns (4 items). Internal consistency was evaluated through Cronbach’s alpha. The cluster analysis consisted of the application of hierarchical methods followed by k-means and produced three clusters (1—‘fearful’, 2—‘farming,’ and 3—‘ecological’ individuals). The characterisation of the clusters revealed that age did not influence cluster membership, while sex, education, country, living environment, professional area, and income all influenced the composition of the clusters. While participants from Mexico and Spain were fewer in the ‘fearful’ cluster, in those from Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, and Turkey, the situation was opposed. Participants from rural areas were mostly in cluster 2, which also included a higher percentage of participants with lower income. Participants from professional areas linked with biology, food, and nutrition were mostly in cluster 3. In this way, we concluded that the level of knowledge about EIs is highly variable according to the individual characteristics, namely that the social and cultural influences of the different countries lead to distinct levels of knowledge and interpretation of information, thus producing divergent approaches to the consumption of insects—some more reluctant and measuring possible risks. In contrast, others consider EIs a good and sustainable protein-food alternative.

Insects have been consumed for time immemorial in many regions of the globe. However, in other parts, they are not traditionally eaten. Because they are a more sustainable source of animal protein and provide valuable nutrients as well as bioactive compounds with beneficial effects on the human body, their consumption is encouraged. Knowledge can serve as a tool for better acceptance of insects as food. In this context, the present work investigated the knowledge about the nutritional value and health effects of edible insects in different countries. Data were collected by employing a questionnaire survey translated into the different languages of all participating countries and were treated using statistical tools. A total of 7222 responses were obtained. The results indicated that for many issues, the participants manifested a neutral opinion (neither agree nor disagree), but the participants who manifested agreement/disagreement were generally well informed. They were also able to identify untrue facts and answer accordingly by disagreeing. Factor analysis showed four groups of questions: nutritive value, negative perception and risks, safety and benefits of insects and contamination and harmful components. Finally, significant differences were observed according to the sociodemographic variables studies (sex, age, education, living environment and country), with age and country being the most influential of the sociodemographic factors on knowledge. Therefore, increasing knowledge is envisaged as an essential factor in augmenting the recognition of edible insects as a nutritional food, presenting health benefits apart from being a more sustainable source of animal protein when compared with beef or pork meats.

The development of microorganisms of sourdough and biodiversity of microbiota can be influenced by changing the parameters of the technological process such as the ratio of flour and added water, the fermentation temperature and time. The Box–Behnken design methodology was used to determine the optimal parameters for the three-phase spontaneous backslopping fermentation process of hull-less barley sourdough, as well as to characterize the microbiological diversity. The optimized parameters of backslopping fermentation are flour and water ratio 1:1.13, temperature 30 °C, time 24 h in the 1st backslopping; the inoculate, flour and water ratio 1:1:1.3, temperature 31 °C, time 14 h in the 2nd backslopping, and the inoculate, flour and water ratio 1:1:1.5, and temperature 28.5 °C, time 12 h in the 3rd step of backslopping. In the controlled spontaneous fermentation environment in three backslopping steps, the microbiological research of hull-less barley sourdough has confirmed the dominance of species Pediococcus pentosaceus in the 3rd backslopping step of spontaneous fermentation. The developed spontaneous hull-less barley sourdough is consistent with the number of lactic bacteria and yeasts in line with that seen by the active sourdough.

Because edible insects (EI) have been, in recent years, recommended as a nutritious animal protein food with enormous environmental advantages over other sources of animal protein for human consumption, studies aimed at investigating the consumer perspective have become more prominent. Hence, this study intended to examine the perceptions of participants from different countries about the commercialization and economic and social impacts of edible insects. The study was made using a questionnaire survey, and data were collected in Brazil, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey. The final number of received answers was 7222 participants. For the treatment of the results, different statistical techniques were used: factor analysis, internal reliability by Cronbach’s alpha, cluster analysis, ANOVA to test differences between groups, and Chi-square tests. The results obtained confirmed the validity of the scale, constituted by 12 out of the 14 items initially considered, distributed by 4 factors: the first related to the economic impact of EIs, the second related to the motivation for consumption of EIs, the third related to the places of purchase of EIs, and the fourth corresponding to a question presented to the participants as a false statement. A cluster analysis allowed identifying three clusters, with significant differences between them according to all the sociodemographic variables tested. Also, it was found that the participants expressed an exceptionally high level of agreement with aspects such as the difficulty in finding EIs on sale, knowledge acting as a strong motivator for EI consumption, and the role of personalities and influencers in increasing the will to consume EIs. Finally, practically all sociodemographic variables were found to be significantly associated with perceptions (country, sex, education, living environment, and income), but not age. In conclusion, the perceptions about EI commercialization were investigated and revealed differences among samples originating from different countries. Moreover, the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants were found to be strongly associated with their perceptions.