Special Issue on Functional Food

A functional food is a food given an additional function often one related to health-promotion or disease prevention by adding new ingredients or more of existing ingredients. Functional foods are part of the continuum of products that individuals may consume to increase their health or contribute to reducing their disease burden. Functional foods are an emerging field in food science due to their increasing popularity with health-conscious consumers and the ability of marketers to create new interest in existing products.

The functional food industry, consisting of food, beverage and supplement sectors, is one of the several areas of the food industry that is experiencing fast growth in recent years. It is estimated by BCC Research that the global market of functional food industry will reach 176.7 billion in 2013 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4%. Specifically, the functional food sector will experience 6.9% CAGR, the supplement sector will rise by 3.8% and the functional beverage sector will be the fastest growing segment with 10.8% CAGR. While, consumer skepticism persists mainly due to the fact that benefits associated with consuming the products may be difficult to be detected. The industry suggests the establishment of a health claim regulating agency, which may increase consumer confidence.

In this special issue, we intend to invite front-line researchers and authors to submit original researches and review articles on exploring functional food. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Functional food
• Nutraceutical
• Enriched foods
• Dietary supplements
• Health-promoting additives
• Nutrition facts labels
• Health claims
• Health conscious consumers

Authors should read over the journal’s Authors’ Guidelines carefully before submission. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal’s Paper Submission System.

Please kindly notice that the “Special Issue” under your manuscript title is supposed to be specified and the research field “Special Issue - Functional Food” should be chosen during your submission.

According to the following timetable: 

Prof. Alessandra Bordoni

University of Bologna, Italy

For further questions or inquiries

Please contact Editorial Assistant at

fns@scirp.org