I've been working with the EntityTargetEvent to run code when specific mobs try to target a player who has food in their hand. I have found that the EntityTargetEvent works as expected, except for mobs which have been added to Minecraft during and after version 1.17. In this case, the mobs will not create a targeting event and continue as normal, which stops me from modifying vanilla behavior. Other ways of targeting appear to work (EG: a goat targeting an entity to ram them). I have tested this in a few versions of Spigot and Minecraft and it seems to be occurring since Spigot builds for Minecraft 1.17.

Me holding wheat and being targeted by a cow, sheep, and goat

My console during this point in time - only the cow and sheep create an event not the goat

From my testing, this occurs with every mob added during and after 1.17. that will follow a player because they are holding food. This includes axolotls, frogs, and goats.

I also found the following from testing which I believe could also be part of this issue:

• An event is not created for when Allays seek to track a player down and give them an item. 
• An event is not created when a non-angered warden begins to follow a player. It is only created when they actively target the player to attack

I have included a plugin that I created to test the range of this bug. It simply prints to the console when an entity attempts to target another entity.