Development and industry of health functional food in Korea

The Korean Health Functional Food (HFF) act is expected to protect the consumer and promote health of the people by providing them with correct information about HFF. The new act makes it easy for new ingredients in HFF to be introduced. Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) manages its dual registration system for HFF, which are general standard HFF and HFF recognized individually. Any HFF which satisfies the general standard can be approved without submitting scientific evidence. However, HFF containing a new ingredient should be recognized individually by KFDA evaluation for its safety and efficacy. Depending on 4 levels of scientific evidence, 4 types of claims are determined. They include other-function and reduction-of-disease-risk claims. Red ginseng (steamed ginseng) occupied 45.2% of Korean total HFF market in 2007. The market is expected to grow more, reaching 4 trillion Won in 2010. Big companies will dominate the HFF market. Integrative study to combine food science, molecular biology, and nutrigenomics are helpful to HFF research and safety.