# Special Issue: Eco-Novel Food and Feed
## 2 Contributions  
The papers included in this special issue cover discussions on: Food neophobia or distrust of novelties? ; Exploring consumers' attitudes toward GMOs, insects and cultured meat; Increasedgrain amino acid content in rice with earthworm castings; Antihypertensive peptide activity in Dutch-type cheese models prepared with different additional strains of _Lactobacillus_ genus bacteria; Increased anti-inflammatory effects on LPS-induced microglia cells by _Spirulina maxima_ extract from ultrasonic process; A novel way for whey: Cheese whey fermentation produces an effective and environmentally-safe alternative to chlorine; Wheat bread with dairy products technology, nutritional and sensory properties; or _Psyllium_ and _Laminaria_ partnership--an overview of possible food gel applications. The editors acknowledge all contributions, and we are delighted to introduce a collection of seven selected high-quality research papers in this Special Issue. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [1] presented a comprehensive review on the challenges the food industry continually faces to find new ideas to satisfy the increasingly specific consumer demand, since innovative food products do not always become part of consumption habits or create a real market. They stated that one of the major sources of resistance to novelty lies in the attitude of the consumer, who in many cases may be suspicious or hostile as a result of specific ideologies, overly attached to tradition or affected by neophobia, which was discussed throughout the paper. Moreover, they reviewed the recent literature on Europeans' attitude toward novel foods and innovation, including genetically modified organisms, cultivated meat and insects as food, which revealed a number of paradoxes in consumers' behavior, and in the many complex conditions underpinning the success of innovation in food production. Consumer involvement in the early stages of the development process is one of the strategies aimed at minimizing the failure of new products when they reach the market. [PERSON] and coworkers [2] contributed with a brief report on the nutritional value of rice to enhance the health of rice consumers, indicating that grain amino acid content is an important nutritional component. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the application of earthworm castings could increase the grain amino acid content in rice. Their outcomes showed that total amino acid content in the grain was significantly elevated by applying earthworm castings, with an average increase of 8% across four tested rice cultivars. These authors suggested that this behavior can be related to improving the efficiency of the nitrogen to amino acid conversion, and highlighted that further studies are required to assess the effects of earthworm castings on the amino acid metabolism in rice grains. [PERSON] and coworkers [3] focused on the proteolytic activity of bacterial strains from the genus _Lactobacillus_ and their capability in producing peptide inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme in cheese models prepared with their addition. These authors indicated that all tested cheese models exhibited a high ability of angiotensin convertase inhibition (>80%, after five weeks of ripening). They also found that use of the adjunct bacterial cultures from the genus _Lactobacillus_ contributed to lower IC\({}_{50}\). In addition, they pointed out that the proteolytic activity of model cheeses varied in their increase through the period of ripening, with changes in values dependent on the adjunct lactic acid bacteria strain used for cheese making. [PERSON] and coworkers [4] assessed the anti-inflammatory impact of _Spirulina_ extract from a non-thermal ultrasonic process. These authors found that this environmentally friendly treatment enhanced anti-inflammation activities two-fold compared to those of conventional extracts processed at high temperature.