Functional food – numerous problems remain

With its easy use, ability to support good health with nutrients and improve the immune system, functional food is winning the hearts of more and more consumers. However, taking advantage of the trust of consumers, many enterprises advertise and exaggerate the uses of this type of food in order to make maximum profit. This situation requires strict management methods, as well as labels and warnings for consumers with accurate information on functional food, to help avoid unnecessary expenditures on these products.

According to the Academy of Sciences and International Life, medicinal foods can be of natural origin, or processed products or foods fortified with “functional additives” in the production stage. Functional foods not only provide basic nutrients, but also prevent diseases and improve health due to their anti-oxygen elements. These products have good influences on health and beauty, which help win the trust of large numbers of people. According to Food Safety and Hygiene under the Ministry of Health, producing functional foods has become a lucrative industry. For instance, in the USA, major food companies produce most functional foods, especially such foods for children, making annual turnover of up to US$30 billion. In China, the market for functional foods is very diverse, not only catering for domestic consumption but for export as well. So far, some 10,000 types of functional foods have been produced in China, with a total value of US$2.5 – 3 billion per annum.

The study and application of functional foods have really helped expand and develop science on nutrients. In Vietnam, although the market for functional foods has just emerged, its growth pace is quite impressive. In 2000, the market contained only a dozen imported functional foods. By 2005 – 2006, domestically produced functional foods accounted for 33 percent, and in 2008, this proportion doubled. There are now some 1,100 companies manufacturing and importing 1,700 types of functional foods. There are over 40 multi-level selling companies operating in the market of functional foods. Economic benefits brought by functional foods are huge and the development potential of this industry is large, since Vietnam has abundant sources of medicinal herbs which can be used as materials for production of functional foods. In addition, the ecology and plant system of our country is very diverse. Many of these plants are rare, and have properties good for health and disease treatment. Exploiting this potential, many large pharmaceutical companies in Vietnam including Domesco, Hau Giang, Traphaco, Imexpharm and IMC quickly churn out functional foods which are very effective and highly evaluated by the market. Thanks to functional production, many jobs are generated for farmers and economic value created for society.

However, Dr Phan Quoc Kinh, Deputy Chairman of Vietnam Chemistry and Medicine Sub-Institute, said that in recent years manufacturing of functional foods from imported and local materials has bloomed, causing problems. Even worse, some businessmen abuse the trust of consumers, exaggerating the uses of functional foods on their advertisements and selling products at rip-off prices, especially prevalent in multi-level selling methods.

Many problems with the production and advertisement of functional foods have been detected. The most dangerous is distributor’s exaggeration in advertising, making consumers believe that functional foods can treat every disease.

Facing price escalation and questionable advertising methods, governing agencies’ lagging oversight of functional foods and legal regulations are matters of concern. Despite the presence of functional foods in Vietnam for ten years with vigorous expansion, when asked about this a representative of Food Safety and Hygiene Affairs (Ministry of Health) stated that the issue of functional foods in Vietnam is very new. Therefore, there were only three documents issued by the Ministry of Health to manage functional foods between 2000 and 2004. Since then, there have been no more documents. Meanwhile, the growth rate of functional foods in this period is around 200%. It is weaknesses in management that enables the circulation of fake and low quality products in the market, causing financial loss and damaged health for consumers.

Functional foods are flooding the market. The effects of functional foods cannot be denied, but it is true that their prices and functions are not well established, which leads to an overuse in many cases. It is necessary that the State and governing agencies complete and promulgate legal regulations on manufacturing, processing and distributing functional foods in order to protect consumers’ rights. Apart from the management of medical agencies, consumers are advised to be more cautious in selecting and purchasing functional foods available in the market to avoid wasting money on bad medicine. – VCCI

Tags: Functional food

Posted by VBN on Aug 13 2010. Filed under Food & Beverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry