Regulating Health Foods: Policy Challenges and Consumer Conundrums

With ageing populations, rising incomes and a growing recognition of the link between diet and health, consumers are interested in new food products, supplements and ingredients with purported health benefits. The food industry has responded with new food innovations, formulations and enhancements that comprise the growing health food market, manifesting the need to design regulatory frameworks to govern valid health claims.

Regulating Health Foods provides an assessment of the regulatory environment governing the health food sector in key developed markets, including the US, the EU, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as significant emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Korea. It examines the different definitions of 'health food', product approval processes and health claims regulation in these markets. Against this backdrop, the book also offers insight into the nature of the health food sector in selected countries and examines the drivers of consumer demand for foods offering health benefits.

This book is informative and accessible for students interested in food and nutrition policy, food economics, as well as socio-economic issues surrounding food and health. Academics and policymakers interested in food policy and regulation will benefit from the detailed analysis of the regulatory systems in a number of countries, and a comprehensive overview of key literature summarizing consumer attitudes toward health foods and health claims.

Jill E. Hobbs, Professor, University of Saskatchewan, Stavroula Malla Associate Professor, University of Lethbridge, Eric K. Sogah, Research Associate, University of Lethbridge and May T. Yeung, University of Saskatchewan, Canada