Italian consumers’ responses to pasta formulated with alternative protein sources: an online questionnaire

The present study investigated the consumer response to pasta formulated with hemp, seaweed, insect and pea flours or powders among the Italian population, given the urgent need to identify and utilise alternative, sustainable protein sources. To this end, a structured questionnaire was administered to 470 participants to assess their eating habits, their familiarity with high-protein products, and how nutritional and environmental information influences their willingness to try (WTT) and willingness to buy (WTB) the herein-evaluated pastas. Attitudes such as food neophobia, interest in health and sustainability of food consumption were also examined using psychometric scales. The findings indicated higher WTT and WTB values for pea protein pasta, which were significantly and positively influenced by nutritional information. The study further demonstrated a differential behavioural pattern: participants with lower food neophobia scores exhibited a greater propensity to adopt novel protein sources, whereas highly neophobic individuals appeared less responsive to informational treatments. In addition, a cluster analysis identified two distinct consumer segments differing markedly in their WTT and WTB. Among the examined variables, low food neophobia, rather than consumer predisposition towards the health-related attributes of food or their focus on environmental sustainability, was consistently associated with greater WTT and WTB for alternative protein sources. The promotion of foodstuffs containing alternative protein sources, particularly those that are unfamiliar or associated with psychological barriers identified in previous literature, such as food neophobia and food disgust, may benefit from a combination of nutritional and environmental messaging to counterbalance these barriers.