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... the korean functional food market hinges on obtaining the nation’s precious ingredient claim approval, but breaking that barrier opens the floodgates to huge market potential, according to an industry expert ... in the second part of our special series on the food and beverage markets in asia, we speak to willy tan, asia executive director of pharmachem, for a glimpse into the state of affairs in korea ... “the asian market in general is moving into functional foods, which is a trend that has picked up strongly over the past few years ... everybody looks to japan for market trends in the region, and this is true of korea too ... but the key difference in the functional food market in korea is that individual ingredients need to be approved to carry health claims, as opposed to japan’s finished product approval process,” said tan ... ” tough regulations according to tan, who represents the us functional ingredient firm pharmachem across asia, the stringent regulatory approval process in korea is both restrictive – in that it prevents all but the most substantiated ingredients from carrying health claims – and flexible – in that once an ingredient is approved it can be used in all product categories, which means there is a wider scope for the ingredient to reach consumers ... in korea, he said, no functional food products are sold without claims, as no one would know what the benefits are ... for functional ingredients to carry a claim in korea, this must be submitted to the korean food and drug administration (kfda), which will evaluate it for efficacy, consistency and safety ... “the government is very protective of the korean people, and wants to make sure that they are not taken in by ambiguous products that can’t be substantiated,” said tan ... functional food market tan estimates that functional foods in korea make up between 10-20 per cent of the overall food market
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