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The chapter presents an overview of the legislative regime regulating insects for human consumption in the EU territory. The analysis aims at underlining both the legal issues deriving from the previous EU Novel Foods Regulation 258/97 and the difficulties and concerns characterising the legislative evolutive path and the current Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. An examination of the recent CJEU intervention in the so-called Entoma case will lead to some conclusive remarks, intended to highlight open issues and possible future developments.

The importance of the impact of the food system not only on human health but also on planet health is gaining growing attention, and there is now an urgent call to action for developing multi-stakeholder strategies able to end poverty and maintain prosperity and health for people and for the planet. To provide a better understanding of the complex relationships between food, well-being and environment, it is pivotal to generate multidisciplinary knowledge on the promotion of human well-being in relation to multiple interconnected factors such as diet and nutrition, environment, economic, social, and legal aspects. Based on these premises, the present paper aims at describing the proposed role of the Joint Research Center “Innovation for Well-Being and Environment” (CRC I-WE) that was brought to light in 2019 with a strong interdisciplinary nature at the University of Milan, Italy. In 2021, the Center hosted its first annual conference aimed at identifying case studies from the food, health, and sustainability fields particularly deserving an interdisciplinary approach, and which may provide the basis for opening a wider discussion with the scientific community.

Food systems all over the world are increasingly under pressure: according to the United Nations, in 2020, 2.37 billion people suffered hunger or were unable to eat a healthy balanced diet on a regular basis. This worrying scenario, mainly affecting developing countries in the Global South, has been exacerbated by different phenomena such as climate change, the global spread of Covid-19, and recent geopolitical tensions. In this context, innovation and technological progress have been considered important allies to promote environmental, social and economic sustainability in the food sector and provide solid answers to the urgent demand of accessible and safe food for present and future generations. So-called Novel Foods represent an interesting and relevant example of the potential role of innovation for the guaranteeing of food security. This introductive chapter aims to present the main issues affecting the food sector globally and offer some first insights on this Volume’s main topics: Novel Foods in the European Union and a particular category of ‘new’ foods, namely insects for human consumption. The structure of the book and the reasons behind the content selection are explored, highlighting the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to such a complex topic.

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