The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) and Korea Institute for Food Industry Cluster obtained approval for black raspberry extracts (efficacious in controlling blood pressure) to be labeled on general foods from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) on Oct. 11.
The functional labeling, which applied only to health functional foods in the past, is now in place for general foods. Labeling of functional materials mixed with general foods may be allowed through a self-review process.
Currently, about 440 items are on the list of functional labeling, bringing about great changes in the functional food market.
Functional labeling had now been limited to 29 kinds of notified ingredients and some individually recognized raw materials, so food makers had found it hard to develop diverse functional foods and expand the functional food market.
In particular, the number of hypertensive patients totals 12 million due to aging.
Even though the importance of general foods is getting higher for dietary management, there was no functional food ingredient efficacious for controlling blood pressure.
The approval of black raspberry is expected to give an impetus to expand the functional labeled food market.
The scope of the utilizing of the black raspberry is expected to be expanded to functional labeled foods on top of health functional foods, thus raising black raspberry growers’ revenues.
MAFRA and Korea Institute for Food Industry Cluster have implemented projects to look into the functionality of homegrown food ingredients to reinvigorate the functional food market through collaboration among domestic growers and food makers.
In particular, the latest functional labeling is owed to the outcome of a project to examine the functionality of food ingredients through scientific investigation of the functionality.
Black raspberry extracts, efficacious in controlling blood pressure, are allowed to be labeled as functional ingredients of general foods.
Apart from black raspberries, others are expected to be recognized as functional food ingredients, such as garlic for adjusting blood pressure, “bokbunja” (Korean wild berry) for antioxidation, “dangjo gochu” (green pepper) for adjusting for blood sugar.
President Lee Young-jae of Korea Institute for Food Industry Cluster said, “New functionality food ingredients of homegrown agricultural and food resources are core means to secure technology hegemony and a foundation to leverage the competitiveness of the industry, so strategic registration is required for contributing to a virtual cycle of companies’ investing into product development and raising regional growers’ income.”
Korea Institute for Food Industry Cluster will aggressively explore functionality so that the portion of the homegrown functional foods, lower than imports, can be raised, he said.
Yang Ju-pil, director in charge of food industry policy at the MAFRA, said, “Multi-facetted efforts, which have been so far made to boost the functionality food regime and culture the future food industry, have begun to pay off.”
More homegrown agricultural and food resources will be made value added as the functional labeled food ingredient has been approved, to give a boon to regional growers and food makers, and efforts will be made to continuously explore outstanding functional food ingredients that can satisfy consumers, Yang said.
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