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This paper aims to discuss the innovation challenge in the alternative protein sectors of the European Union (EU) and Australia-New Zealand (AUSNZ) by comparing their respective novel food frameworks. The study investigates which regulatory provisions stakeholders perceive as barriers to innovation and proposes measures to address these obstacles.

Alternative proteins are often legally classified as “novel foods” in both the EU and AUSNZ. A functional comparative legal analysis of the novel food frameworks of these two jurisdictions was conducted. Qualitative interviews with stakeholders active in the EU or AUSNZ alternative protein sectors complemented the legal analysis. The interviews aimed at gathering stakeholder perspectives on the framework within which they operate and discuss ways to foster innovation in their jurisdictions.

While the AUSNZ framework is generally perceived as more innovation-friendly, particularly regarding breakthrough innovations like cultivated meat, the EU is viewed as a challenging regulatory environment. The duration of the authorisation procedure, differing levels of communication and opportunities for dialogue between stakeholders and regulators, along with the political stances of EU member states, emerged as the main elements to explain such differences. In both jurisdictions, a lack of support for small-scale companies was identified as a key factor hindering the innovation process.

This study provides the first in-depth comparative analysis of the novel food frameworks in the EU and AUSNZ and explores stakeholder perceptions of their respective frameworks. Through this comparison, the study offers suggestions for enhancing both frameworks' ability to incentivise innovation in their alternative protein sectors.

The development and introduction of novel hypoallergenic foods represents a potential approach to reducing the negative health impacts of food allergy. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether novel hypoallergenic foods will be accepted by food chain actors and consumers.

Stakeholder opinions (collated using semi‐structured interviews (n=16)) regarding the acceptability of novel hypoallergenic foods were assessed. Three focus groups were applied to understand the opinions of food allergic consumers.

Food allergic consumers expressed a preference for a “cure” for food allergy. However, they acknowledged that hypoallergenic foods had the potential to improve the quality of lives of food allergy sufferers through increasing dietary variation and reducing restrictions on product selection. Stakeholders supported the introduction of novel foods (although this support was not universal), assuming that the products were acceptable to food allergic consumers, consumers in general and regulators.

The paper is likely to be useful for the potential developers of hypoallergenic foods, allergen food products (food industry and scientists) and policy makers regarding the commercialisation of novel hypoallergenic foods and their regulation.

The purpose of this paper was to study how public regulation promotes or hinders openness in the food industry, specifically how European novel food regulation has affected external ties among novel food pioneers seen through patents and their inventors.

A multiphase mixed-methods design was used to combine data as follows: Worldwide patents originating from Norwegian novel food pioneers 2004–2019, downloaded through the European Patent Office database. Application data and interviews were analysed together with substantial information on 88 patents.

Firms use patenting and novel food applications as part of a wider intellectual property rights strategy to guard against unintended spillovers and to shape external collaboration. Examinations of patents indicate a pattern of selective partnership with research and development (R&D) providers.

Food industry actors can combine property rights strategies to maintain a pattern of openness and external collaboration. R&D providers should consider the food industry's flag-planting strategies by integrating these into contractual regulations.

Little is known earlier about how novel food pioneers collaborate with suppliers, research actors, governmental actors, distributors and customers regarding new product development.

Supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO₂) is a promising novel treatment that might be used in the food industry, such as sc-CO₂ pasteurisation and sc-CO₂ drying. Before sc-CO₂ treated foodstuffs may be introduced to European market, they have to be authorised according to novel food regulation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to give an overview of available literature data on sc-CO₂ treated fruits and vegetables, which might be used for novel food authorisation.

The paper is based on literature data available via Science Direct, EBSCO and Wiley concerning sc-CO₂ pasteurisation and drying of fruits/vegetables. Studies performed on animal foodstuffs were manually excluded, while articles related to novel foods and legislation were included in the study.

Database search resulted 34 articles related to microbiological and compositional/nutritional changes in sc-CO₂ treated foods. Obtained data indicated that sc-CO₂ pasteurisation is effective in inactivating microorganisms in liquids, while no general conclusion on the microbiological quality of sc-CO₂ pasteurised solid foods or sc-CO₂ dried foods could be made. Available literature data showed that sc-CO₂ pasteurisation did not result in significant compositional/nutritional changes in liquids, while for sc-CO₂ pasteurised solid foods or sc-CO₂ dried foods, one is not able to make common conclusions due to insufficient research data. Therefore, additional research and case-by-case study for each treated food have to be prepared.

This study is original to the extent that it brought together available information on sc-CO₂ pasteurised and dried foods, needed the novel food application.

The paper aims to address the issue of how customer value is created in the context of novel food products and how customer value influences product evaluation.

The study proposes a model formed by a series of causal relations among value (i.e. functional, social, hedonic, altruistic values) and cost perceptions (i.e. price, effort, evaluation costs, performance and product safety), their trade-offs (i.e. overall customer value) and product evaluation outcomes (i.e. satisfaction, trust).

Despite doubts about certain search (information), credence (safety) and experience (taste) attributes, perceptions about product quality, likeability and ethical image predominantly formulate customer value, indicating novel products’ potential to be evaluated positively by consumers.

The proposed model advances knowledge in the context of product innovation. Contrary to past research that focuses on consumer attitudes towards a manufacturing technology and individual technology-specific risks and benefits, the customer value approach refers to novel product-related consumer attitudes conceptualized as overall customer value; the latter results from product-related value-cost trade-offs, leading towards specific consumer–product evaluations.

The customer value approach refers to the value from the adoption of a new product that underlies a relevant set of product attributes (e.g. quality, image, sustainability, price, convenience, taste, safety, etc.) Focusing on product attributes that generate gain – loss perceptions impactful on consumer – product evaluations is highly relevant for product managers concerned with new product development.

The originality of this work lies in the successful contextualization and testing of an inclusive model that comprises both emotional and rational components, operational at the product level, to generate substantial insights on the widely unexplored interplay between consumer – perceived customer value and the generation of consumer – product evaluation outcomes.

The paper aims to explore consumer preferences for novel and other quality attributes in processed foods. It focuses on preferences for product origin, certification on food quality and standards and tradeoffs between novelty (fortification and highly processed) and other quality attributes.

In total, 317 consumers were randomly selected at a high-end supermarket and a traditional local market in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Stated and revealed preference approaches were used to investigate their preferences for different attributes in processed foods. A hypothetical choice experiment was used to assess consumer preference for six baby food attributes and the tradeoffs between the attributes, while the revealed preference method included questions on consumer's actual processed food purchasing and consumption habits. In addition, consumers were asked a series of hierarchical questions assessing the motivation underpinning their choices for different products attributes.

When making choices for processed food attributes, consumers are reluctant to choose novel technologies and have a strong preference for natural, nutritious, tasty and quality processed food attributes. However, they are willing to forego their preference for naturalness and to overcome their reluctance to trying novel technologies when the novelty is embedded with such quality benefits as nutrition, but not so when the embedded benefit is convenience. They are also willing to trade off their preference for nutrition for a sensory taste. This suggests that micronutrient deficiencies can be reduced among women and children under five by employing the appropriate strategies in processed food formulation. Further, the preference for product origin highlights the opportunity for national brands to fill the gap created by the increasing demand for processed foods in Tanzania.

The study claims a developing country perspective but is only representing consumers in one city in a developing country. However, this study speculates that consumers with representative characteristics in such context are likely to behave the same. Furthermore, although this study controlled for a hypothetical bias, having a hypothetical choice experiment with non-shoppers (non-purchasers) could have triggered the hypothetical bias, making participants concentrate more on non-price than price attributes.

The paper offers a developing country perspective on consumers' preferences for novelty in processed foods and tradeoffs with other quality attributes.

The purpose of this paper is to identify antecedents of attitudes towards foods produced by novel technologies, including high pressure processing (HPP) (orange juice); genetic modification for a “health benefit” (omega‐3 margarine); novel cereals with resistant starch for a “health benefit” where the traits were identified by genetic modification to understand selected gene function prior to utilising traditional breeding techniques to achieve desired novel traits (pasta); and infertility technologies (triploidy and irradiation) for farmed aquaculture (prawns).

A questionnaire based on adaptations of three validated food choice questionnaires was administered using an incomplete block design, with each respondent (n=142) assessing two products produced by three differing technologies (triads). Quantitative responses to food choice issues and the importance of those issues (belief evaluation constructs) were analysed using repeated measures analysis of variance, with three independent variables; gender, frequency of consumption (both only significant for margarine) and age (ns).

Significant differences between the various technologies were found for four of the five products (not orange juice) by technology. Belief evaluation constructs that differed for all technologies investigated were health, natural content, familiarity and political values. Furthermore, price, ecological welfare, and impression management underlie attitudes towards some technologies.

While based on a relatively small Australian convenience sample, these findings suggest that scientists and manufacturers would be well advised to test concept products produced by novel technologies to ensure that they are perceived positively; otherwise uptake and success in the marketplace will be impeded if information on the technology were, as is increasingly likely in an age of freely available information, to be revealed.

This paper aims to extend the current knowledge about how food neophobia and food technology neophobia can influence whether consumers choose fish farmed with insect-based flours (FFIF).

The authors used an online survey questionnaire and a sample of 567 young Italian adults. The answers were analysed using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis and structural equation modelling.

Both methodologies highlighted the relevance of food technology neophobia in influencing consumers' attitudes and intentions, even when foodstuffs were not produced through technology-intensive processes.

Despite being focussed on a sample containing people of similar ages and food cultures, this study offers evidence that it is not necessarily the technological level of a food production process that sparks feelings of technology-related neophobia. Thus, this study highlights the importance of consumers' perceptions of foodstuff choices.

The findings provide valuable insights into how informative campaigns should address the problem of increasing the acceptance of novel foods, such as FFIF.

The present study provides empirical evidence that food technology neophobia can influence whether consumers choose FFIF. Furthermore, using a mixed-method approach is novel in the field of new foods.

The circularity of food waste is gathering considerable pace globally. The present study aimed to explore the awareness, attitude and behaviour of Malaysian young adults towards food waste as a food ingredient. The physicochemical characteristics and sensory acceptance of chicken eggshell powder (CESP)-fortified madeleine cake were also investigated.

A survey on awareness, attitude and behaviour was conducted online amongst young adults (n = 384) in the Klang Valley region. The control and fortified madeleine cakes were subjected to nutritional constituent analyses according to the methods of Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) for moisture, protein, ash and calcium. Fat was determined via Soxhlet method whilst carbohydrate was estimated by difference. Physical analyses such as texture and water activity were assessed using instrumental techniques. Sensory acceptance test was conducted amongst another group of young adults (n = 105) using a nine-point hedonic scale.

The survey revealed that most young adults demonstrated a positive attitude and behaviour in trying food products made using food waste. Taste and texture were deemed important determinants that influenced the young adults' acceptability. Texture profiles of fortified madeleine cakes exhibited no significant differences (p > 0.05) in most attributes compared to the control whilst significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed for fat, carbohydrate, ash and calcium contents with increasing CESP fortification levels.

The survey on awareness, attitude and behaviour was conducted amongst young adults from universities in the Klang Valley, Selangor region Malaysia through self-reports about food waste and the findings might not be applicable to the whole nation.

Knowledge of young adults' perceptions towards waste-to-value food products can contribute to the development of pragmatic framework for effective valorisation of food wastes, which aligns with United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to improve the targets and indicators for agriculture and food security.

Sustainable management of food waste will minimise the impact of the industry on our environment and contributes to a circular economy. Further, increased awareness of the food waste's potential as a novel food ingredient allows a positive shift in its role to achieve food sustainability.

This innovative study incorporates the element of exploratory research to gain an understanding of young adults' perceptions towards repurposing food waste. This is followed by the practical application of food waste (i.e. CESP) into the end application (i.e. madeleine cake) to gain a holistic view of young adults’ perceptions aligning with the actual acceptance. The results obtained from this study can be considered as a first perspective that provides indications of the plausibility of food products made from food waste in Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ willingness to accept irradiated food and the major factors related both to socio-demographic characteristics and to the perceived risk of consumers about the assumption of foods treated with novel technologies and irradiation, in particular, affecting their behavior. Consumers’ need for information has been investigated.

An online survey, involving 392 consumers living in Italy, was carried out to respond to the aim of the study. A Probit model was performed in order to identify major factors affecting the probability to accept food treated with ionizing radiation.

Findings show that the acceptability of irradiated foods is mainly affected by the consumers’ perceived risk to health consequent to their consumption. Equally influent are the socio-economic characteristics such as age, monthly income and geographical area in which consumers live.

This study provides some interesting suggestions both for policy makers and managers, primarily related to the need to start an effective promotion campaign aimed to familiarize the consumers about the principles, aims and benefits of irradiation technology.

Very few empirical studies have been carried out in order to evaluate the acceptability of foods products treated with ionizing radiation in Italy, where exist a growing problem related to the food loss and waste, and the need for information among consumers about the irradiated foods.