What is Functional Food
Functional food is any fresh or processed food claimed to
have a health-promoting or disease-preventing property beyond the
basic function of supplying nutrients. The general category of
functional foods includes processed food or foods fortified with
health-promoting additives, like "vitamin-enriched" products.
Fermented foods with live cultures are considered as functional
foods with probiotic benefits
Functional foods under EU Law
Functional foods under EU Law are
not defined as a specific category and are not regulsted as
such. Therefore the Term 'Functional Food' may be used for or
attributed to many different foods.
The European Regulations and Aims
Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on
nutrition and health claims made on foods entered into force on
19th January 2007 this has been applied since
1st July 2007.
The aims of the regulations are simply
to:
- To achieve a
high level of consumer protection
- To improve
the free movement of goods within the internal market
- To increase
legal security for economic operators and
- To ensure
fair competition in the area of foods
The European Regulations which must be
adhered to with regards to functional foods and foods with health
claims are: 
- Natural
food
- Fortified
foods (Regulation
1925/2006)
- Food
Supplements (Directive 2002/46/EC)
- Dietetic
foods
(Directive 89/398/EC)