ABSTRACT
Sustainable food innovations spread across the value chain, whether in farming, food processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management. Nevertheless, several challenges prevent consumers from accepting and adopting sustainable food choices in a consistent manner. In this book chapter, we first present a typology of sustainable food innovations across the value chain. Then we examine four main challenges to acceptance of sustainable food alternatives among consumers. Namely, we explore the green gap, human bounded rationality, intangibility issues, and elusiveness of product attributes. Moreover, we offer a portfolio of behaviorally informed solutions that companies, governments and other actors engaged in green transition can apply to overcome the acceptability challenges. We finally discuss the role of blockchain, and other digital technologies as enabling convergence innovation to build trust and bridge the gaps that prevent consumers from making sustainable food choices essential to their everyday life. Solution in scale to climate change and other environmental challenges facing mankind requires such ecosystem transformation that embeds Industry 4.0 into Society 5.0.
