The Functional Foods Revolution: Healthy People, Healthy Profits?

Michael Heasman and Julian Mellentin

Published in paperback by Earthscan, London (ISBN: Pb 185383 688 5 Price: £24.99/US$48.03 Format 216x135)

BOOK SUMMARY: An international perspective on marketing, strategic, and policy issues facing companies involved in the business of functional food

'Functional food' - the concept used to describe food that promotes human health beyond basic nutrition - has caught the imagination of the global food industry. A virtual who's who of household-name food companies are developing and marketing functional foods and ingredients as a key driver in their global business strategies.

The authors, defining functional food as an umbrella concept for the marketing of food & health that is taking place on an unprecedented scale globally, explain the difficult and complex business issues functional food presents for the food industry. The authors look to separate the hype from the hope in what they call the functional foods revolution that is sweeping across the modern food economy.

Driven by big business ambition and scientists staking out new frontiers in nutrition science, the functional food revolution is attracting both controversy and praise. The authors explain the contradictory responses to functional food and how and why such dilemmas arise.

Focusing on food marketing, strategic, policy and regulatory issues in the functional foods revolution, the authors present a wealth of detailed marketing and food policy case study material from European, Japanese and United States markets. Drawing together and identifying common themes and strategies across countries, this book presents a unique analysis of the fast-paced world of functional food.

From their global analysis the authors show how many business strategies and assumptions are proving incorrect or are in danger of failing. But drawing on successful functional food case studies, they offer a radical solution: nothing less than a new business model for the future of functional food is needed, a model the authors call the 'Healthful Company'.