Food & Beverage Talks to Consultant Adeline Lim
By Lesley Tian
Associate Research Analyst
28 Aug 2008

Functional food is such a pervasive part of our lives that most of us don’t even notice that it’s there. Calcium-fortified milk, vitamin-A enriched rice, amino-collagen supplements… Truth of the matter is, the category of functional food does not even have a distinct definition! Wikipedia loosely describes the category as “any fresh or processed food claimed to have a health-promoting and/or disease-preventing property beyond the basic nutritional function of supplying nutrients”. Yet, despite the general public’s vague notion of such foods, mention brands like Anlene, Meiji and Danone and it is likely that you will get nods of recognition.

With the increasing demand for such food, yet little awareness of the efficacies such products have on our physical well-being, it is not hard to see the motivations for food manufacturers to over promise. To the general public, few will take the time to investigate the real outcomes from consuming vitamin-A enriched rice vis-à-vis normal rice. But the mind is a wonderful and strange thing – what you perceive it to be, is reality.

That is why, branding functional food is important – and branding responsibly at that.

In Food & Beverage Asia’s May-June issue, StrategiCom Consultant Ms Adeline Lim shared on the importance of branding functional food responsibly; and how food manufacturing companies can leverage on this campaign to raise and better their corporate brand awareness.

Food & Beverage Asia is a magazine for food industry professionals across Asia; and pursues the innovations, trends and technologies that are shaping the region's food and drinks manufacturing industries. The editorial’s coverage includes current issues on Processing; Packaging; Ingredients, Additives & Flavours; Beverage; Food Safety & Quality Control; and of course, Nutrition & Functional Foods.

Click here to view a PDF version of the Food & Beverage Asia article.