Ireland officially launched its Sea Change strategy last week,
which aims to shift the sector away from the traditional
food-harvest view and drive it into new market-led opportunities
including functional foods.
The bonds between the Japanese and European functional foods
industries are strengthening, as industry and regulators recognise
the mutual benefits of working together.
As the food industry is embracing technologies that have until now
been the preserve of pharmaceuticals, such as nutrigenomics,
metabolomics and nanotechnology, global regulations are being more
closely aligned between the two categories...
Ingredient supplier NutraGenesis has announced an alliance with
Kerry Foods to market its proprietary adaptogen product Essentra
for use in functional foods, such as stress relief snack bars.
Alltracel expects to reveal its strategy for entering the
functional foods market with its cellulose fibre bioactive for
cholesterol management by the end of this year, as discussions
progress with potential partners in the EU, US...
Soy-powder maker SoyLink has a new US patent for its proprietary
technology - a manufacturing process the Iowa-based company says
will expand current uses for soy in functional foods and beverages.
The global functional foods market appears to have entered a period
of consolidation, according to Leatherhead International, with
companies concentrating on developing their brands after an intense
period of activity in the late...
Start-up Origo Biosciences has discovered the presence of an
anti-cholesterol immunoglobulin in milk and is investigating its
commercialisation as an ingredient for functional foods that may,
one day, give plant sterols a run for...
Diabetes UK is campaigning to curb the sale of treat foods aimed at
diabetics on the grounds that they are expensive and of little use.
But where does that leave the emerging area functional foods
intended to help sufferers manage...
Functional foods can benefit certain sectors of the population who
may not derive the nutrients they need from their daily diet, but
they may also pose a risk of overdose of certain vitamins and
minerals, according to a new report...
Functional foods could soon play a role in the prevention of
Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia in Europe,
thanks to a €21m research investment from the Spanish government.
Takara Bio is planning to research the use of lesser yam in
functional foods, following research that indicates a variety
cultivated in Japan has more than 200 times the content of the
plant steroid diosgenin than other domestic varieties.
Postmenopausal women are not inclined to recognise functional foods
as a viable means of reducing risk of heart disease, finds a survey
that could inform marketing efforts aimed at this important
consumer group.
Food companies are largely unaware of regulatory hurdles to placing
a new product on the market, according to the Food Safety Authority
of Ireland (FSAI), which has this week published a leaflet on
appropriate labelling for functional...
Ireland is positioning to compete on food innovation on a global
basis, as Teagasc today announces that it is explaning its food
research programme in anticipation of future challenges - with a
specific emphasis on functional foods.
Neptune Technologies & Bioressources has announced that it has
overcome the barriers to developing functional foods using Neptune
Krill Oil (NKO) in alliance with Terepia, with the introduction of
three fruit-flavored custards.
Increasing sales of NKO and a tight hold on the purse strings are
helping Neptune Technologies on its way to profitability. The
Canadian biotech reduced its loses in the second by 25 percent to
$380,000, while sales rose 22 percent...
Neptune Technologies is taking Neptune Krill Oil into Europe,
following the approval of its logo and trademark by the European
Registration Office, where it is tipped as a functional food
ingredient as well as a dietary supplement.
Functional foods are failing to win the trust of consumers on both
sides of the Atlantic, according to a new report from market
analyst Datamonitor, as the food industry is not forgiven for
outlandish claims made in the past and communications...
Functional food could present a solution to the crisis of chronic
diseases that is crippling health care systems across Europe, but
the emphasis should be on action over education, according to
Professor Hans-Ulrich Klõr of Universität...
Functional foods are gaining a foothold in the mainstream food
industry, it appeared at the Anuga exhibition in Cologne this week,
where a symposium on market trends in the sector was hugely
oversubscribed.
The land that gave birth to a small bottle of probiotic drink over
50 years ago has never looked back as far as functional foods are
concerned. A new report claims that the Japanese functional food
market is racing ahead of its western...
Two years ago Leatherhead Food released a report which described
the functional foods industry as a fragmented market dominated by
mainstream companies. However, as Philippa Nuttall reports,
one analyst thinks this is to change in...
Irish dairy firm Glanbia is to invest €15 million in a new
innovation centre to develop functional foods and health
ingredients, Ireland's Minister for Agriculture and Food Joe Walsh
revealed yesterday.
The functional foods sector offers strong growth opportunities for
the Irish food industry, according to Enterprise Ireland, a
government-funded development body which recently organised a trade
mission to Japan to assess its successful...
European researchers assessing the impact of functional foods have
highlighted six areas where functional foods could have an impact
on health, including the role of probiotics and prebiotics on the
gut, antioxidants for disease prevention,...
The market for functional foods is being driven by a greater
responsibility for personal health care amongst Europeans,
according to a new report by market research company, Mintel.The
research shows that the European functional foods...
US food group Quaker Oats and Swiss healthcare giant Novartis have
confirmed that their functional foods joint venture has been
scrapped after just two years of operations.
New evidence confirms the motivations behind the functional foods
market. A report released recently from UK market analysts Key Note
states that the market is driven by continuing consumer interest in
a healthier lifestyle, in conjunction...