While having food for thought about how Human Rights can be and are being protected all over the world under the roof of UN system, today it was my longest ever dinner in one Japanese family where I went for home stay programe. There is no end to evening dinner in kind Japanese family～ it goes on and on. Salad, soup, slowly slowly some snacks, sea-food, every kind of non-veg you are used to, not to forget sushi with sake, juice, goes on and on...why to leave behind green vegetables, fruits, cake and lastly green tea...Can you imagine a dinner for four hours...I had today.
Everyday I am observing here in Tokyo people are used to packed lunches. I was told that rarely someone carries lunchbox from home. All the people believe in branded/unbranded pack lunch and this culture I realised is better than having occassional raw fast food where you are just left to the mercy of god for the disastrous nutritious value they posses and exaggerrating prices the companies charge for the minute quantity of food.
It was mainly the advances in understanding the relationship between nutrition and health that resulted in the development of the concept of functional foods, which means a practical and new approach to achieve optimal health status by promoting the state of well-being and possibly reducing the risk of disease. Functional foods are found virtually in all food categories, however products are not homogeneously scattered over all segments of the growing market.
The development and commerce of these products is rather complex, expensive and risky, as special requirements should be answered. Besides potential technological obstacles, legislative aspects, as well as consumer demands need to be taken into consideration when developing functional food. In particular, consumer acceptance has been recognized as a key factor to successfully negotiate market opportunities. I came to know all this because I could meet Masaya Yabe, Project Manager of Licensing & Business Development Dept. of NIPPON SHINYAKU Co. Ltd.
This company in their Annual Report of 2008 says: "In the functional food business, Nippon Shinyaku isinvolved in the development, production and sale of functionalfood ingredients that meet the requirements of processed food manufacturers and health food manufacturers. Research is being conducted by our Food Development Research Laboratory in Kyoto, and recently we have been making a particular effort in the research and development of health food ingredients that help maintain and improve public health. We have two production bases – the Chitose Functional Food Plant, and our subsidiary Tajima Syokuhin Kogyo Co., Ltd. inToyooka. The majority of our customers are major Japanese food manufacturers."
What is Functional food ?
Functional foods are "those foods that encompass potentially healthful products including any modified food or ingredient that may provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients it contains," as defined by the Institute of Medicine. The Institute of Medicine based in Washington D.C. is a body under National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. and provides independent, objective, evidence basedadvice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public.
Functional foods can include foods like cereals, breads and beverages which are fortified with vitamins, herbs and nutraceuticals. The healing power of foods is a popular concept that focuses on how "super foods" can have health protecting properties. Medicinal foods or "nutritionally high powered foods" have been part and parcel of the natural products industry for a long time and, through emerging scientific research and particularly through growing public interest, they have reached the mainstream.
According to Proposal for the Establishment of Scientific Criteria for Health Claims for Functional Foods published by Nutrition Reviews in the issue of 27 April 2009 authored by Fergus M. Clydesdale： Functional foods are defined and used differently in different nations.
Health claims for these foods influence consumer behavior and potentially affect public health. In an increasingly global economy, health claims for functional foods should meet internationally agreed upon scientific criteria.
The concept of health claims as it exists internationally is discussed, and suggestions to assist consumers, government, industry, and academia in deciding on a scientific and ethical basis for international agreement on health claims for functional foods are offered.
