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Innovation Trends in The Food Industry - The Case of Functional Foods
Innovation Trends in The Food Industry - The Case of Functional Foods
Review
Innovation trends in
the food industry:
The case of
functional foods
Barbara Bigliardia,* and
Francesco Galatib
a
* Corresponding author.
0924-2244/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2013.03.006
Introduction
The food industry is one of the most important branches of
the national economy in Italy and in the European Union in
general, playing a central role for the processing of agricultural raw materials and food supply. As a consequence,
many authors stressed its relevance for employment and
economic output (Menrad, 2004). In innovation literature,
the food industry is traditionally regarded as a sector
with low research intensity (Christensen, Rama, & Von
Tunzelmann, 1996; Garcia Martinez & Briz, 2000).
Notwithstanding, innovations understood as new products,
processes or services are recognized as an important instrument for companies belonging to the food industry to stand
out from competitors and to satisfy consumer expectations
(Menrad, 2004). In particular during the last decade, consumer requirements in the field of food production have
changed considerably: in fact, consumers increasingly
believe that food contribute directly to their health
(Mollet & Rowland, 2002; Young, 2000). Thus, foods are
no more intended to only satisfy hunger and to provide
the necessary nutrients, but also and especially to prevent
nutrition-related diseases and to improve physical and
mental well-being (Menrad, 2003; Robertfroid, 2000b).
Moreover, the food industry has been facing technical
and economic changes both in society and in the
manufacturing and food processing, that in turn had a significant impact on the entire food supply chain, up to the
distribution of food to end consumers, and forced companies to pay high attention in food products that meet
the consumers demand for a healthy lifestyle. As a consequence, innovation has been widely investigated also within
this traditional industry.
Innovations introduced in the food industry in recent
years mainly refer to new scientific and technical
approaches in food processing, and to the introduction of
novel foods. In this regard, functional food plays an
outstanding role, as demonstrated by their increasing
demand derived from the increasing cost of healthcare,
the steady increase in life expectancy, and the desire of
older people for an improved quality of life in their later
years (Kotilainen, Rajalahti, Ragasa, & Pehu, 2006;
Robertfroid, 2000a, 2000b). As such, researchers agree in
stating that functional food represents one of the most interesting areas of research and innovation in the food industry
(Annunziata & Vecchio, 2011; Jones & Jew, 2007; Sir
o,
Kapolna, Kapolna, & Lugasi, 2008).
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Objective
Example
Main references
Probiotics
live microorganisms, as they are
consumed in adequate numbers
confer a health benefit on the host
Charalampopoulos, Pandiella, and
Webb (2003)
Prebiotics
non-digestible food ingredients
that beneficially affect the host by
stimulating the growth and/or
activity of one or a limited number
of bacteria in the colon
Charalampopoulos et al. (2003)
Functional drinks
non-alcoholic beverages fortified
with vitamins A, C and E or other
functional ingredients
Menrad (2003) and Side (2006)
Fructo-oligosaccharide
(FOS), inulin, isomaltooligosaccharides (IMO),
polydextrose, lactulose and
resistant starch.
Sir
o et al. (2008) and Surai and
Sparks (2001).
Functional cereals
Cereals containing dietary fiber,
such as b-glucan and
arabinoxylan, oilgosaccharides,
such as galacto- and fructooligosaccharides and resistant
starch
Oatles and Cagindi (2006)
Functional meat
meat modified by adding
ingredients considered beneficial
for health or by eliminating or
reducing components that are
considered harmful
Bhat and Bhat (2011)
Functional eggs
eggs with increased omega-3 fatty
acid content
Sir
o et al. (2008)
Nutritional function
The term nutritional functions refers to the role of nutrients in growth, development and maintaining the organs
and systems of the human body. Therefore, it is possible to
state that the basic functions of a food are to provide vitamins, minerals and energy derived from the proteins, carbohydrates and lipids required for the well-being of the
human body. Today, as stressed by Ashwell (2003), the
focus of nutritional science is shifting toward the concept
of optimal nutrition. In other words, the objective of nutritional science is to optimize the daily diet in terms of
nutrients and non-nutrients, as well as other food properties
that provide the maintenance health. The above
mentioned shift is mainly motivated by an increase in
lifestyle related diseases, combined with constantly rising
122
Definition
References
Main concepts
Nutritional
function
4
5
6
8
9
10
11
Health
benefits
Technological
process
#
#
123
Table 2 (continued )
No.
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Definition
References
Hasler (2000)
Main concepts
Nutritional
Health
function
benefits
Technological
process
Hilliam (2000)
Wilson (2001)
Lajolo (2002)
#
#
Robertfroid (2002)
Robertfroid (2002)
#
#
Kleinschmidt (2003)
National Academy of
Sciences, USA (cited in
Anonymous, 2003, p. 72)
#
#
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Table 2 (continued)
No.
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Definition
References
Main concepts
Nutritional
Health
function
benefits
Technological
process
Scholey (2004)
Health Canada (2006)
DeFelice (2007)
Niva (2007)
Sir
o et al. (2008)
#
#
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Technological process
In his work, Betoret, Betoret, Vidal, and Fito (2011),
reviewed the technologies trends of functional foods development, identifying three different groups:
technologies traditionally used in food processing.
Formulation and blending constitutes a simple, cheap
and adaptive technology to develop new functional
food and, its use in the development, has a long history
in the successful control of deficiencies of vitamins A
and D, several B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin and
niacin), iodine and iron (Betoret et al., 2011). In more
recent years, the growing importance of dietary
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SPECIALIST
Health benefits,
physiologic markers,
pathogenic
mechanisms
NUTRITIONIST
Nutritional functions
FOOD TECHNOLOGIST
Raw materials, ingredients
Technological process
Fig. 1. The three main actors involved in the research and development
process to obtain a functional food.
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