Functional foods symposium

Functional foods symposium to bring together industry experts

Science and business combine to discuss the future of healthy foods

Christchurch, June 22nd 2009 Adding health benefits to food will be top of the agenda during an international symposium in Christchurch this week as health and nutrition experts meet to discuss the current trends in food and nutrition and share emerging scientific discoveries.

The Inaugural Plant & Food Research Functional Food Symposium will see key figures from around the globe discussing the role health science has in supporting functional food development, as well as the best methods of marketing food products with added health benefits.

“Functional foods are similar to conventional foods that form part of a normal diet, but the difference lies in their demonstrated positive physiological benefits to overall health and their potential ability to reduce the risk of chronic diseases beyond basic nutritional functions” says symposium organiser, Dr Margot Skinner. “As scientists we aim to enhance the goodness of natural foods by extracting key components or breeding cultivars with increased levels. However, this event takes things further, tackling the business and marketing challenges associated with taking science to market also.”

The symposium is followed by the NZIFST Annual Conference, June 23-24, "Food Elements: Putting the Pieces Together".

A full list of speakers and conference programme can be found online at http://www.plantandfood.com/conferences/functional-foods-symposium-2009/

ends

© Scoop Media