Novel Foods and Edible Insects in the European Union: An Interdisciplinary Analysis

Lucia Scaffardi is Full Professor in Public Comparative Law at the University of Parma, Department of Law, Politics and International Studies, where she teaches Public Comparative Law and Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law. Lucia's main research fields cover different areas, from DNA databases for investigative purposes to biometric data as law enforcement tools, from hate speech to GMOs. In 2016 she started focusing her attention on food law and, in particular, on the impact of new technologies on the food sector, considering food safety and sustainability issues together with specific legislative and regulatory challenges. She is author of numerous papers related to Novel Foods and co-editor of a two-volumes’ Conference-proceedings titled “Food Law. A Comparative Perspective”. She participated as a speaker in numerous national and international conferences related to food law and Novel Foods and she recently organized two interdisciplinary Webinars, the first one on Novel Foods and edible insects and the second one on cultured meat, involving colleagues of the University of Parma and of other European Universities, together with business operators and EFSA’s representatives. She also co-organized a Workshop on food sustainability, promoted by the School of Advanced Studies on Food and Nutrition of the University of Parma. She obtained fundings for the realization of several projects in the field of food law, among which funds concerning the realization of studies on food law in a comparative perspective and funds related to the Emilia-Romagna Region Call “High Competences”, with a project specifically devoted to Novel Foods legal issues. She is member of the University Center for Bioethics (UCB) and the Center for Studies in European and International Affairs (CSEIA), both established at the University of Parma; Lucia is also senior member of the Coordinated Research Centre for Innovation, Well-being and Environment (CRC I-WE) of the University of Milan.