Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the European Novel Food Regulation (ENFR) on consumers’ acceptance of and willingness to pay (WTP) for radical food innovations. The research question is focussed on determining whether the ENFR is hampering the market potential of insect-based food products in the European Union (EU). The authors position this question within the domain of regulatory barriers related to food innovations. Design/methodology/approach – Using a choice experiment, the authors assess the presence and relevance of these failures through the analysis of consumers’ acceptance and WTP for insect-based food products with different product attributes directly imposed by the ENFR. Namely, the authors assess the effect of the visualization of insects in the product, the use of logo, and nutritional information. Findings – The results show that consumers prefer and are willing to pay a premium price for insect-based products with a nutritional health claim and logo, but they are not willing to pay for a product with a visualized insect. Originality/value – This paper highlights the risk of regulatory failures for novel foods in the EU, such as insect-based food products due to the ENFR.

In this paper we discuss how cooperation and trust among entrepreneurs can be challenged when they are dealing with venture creation in the context of radical innovation. Entomology-based foods are considered as one of the most promising innovation in the food sector. However they impose radical changes in food consumption habits with high risk of low consumer acceptance. Four European entrepreneurs joined forces in a new venture operating in this sector, trying to make it a successful business. We asked two of them to participate in a venture creation game experiment. The results indicate that high individualized pay-offs can lead the entrepreneurs to deviate from trust and cooperation.