Functional Food

Good food and drinks is a key to great mental and physical health, that´s why consumers today are looking for products that are not only supporting their wellness, but delivering functional benefits too. The term ‘Functional Food’ was first developed in Japan to refer to foods with added ingredients claiming to provide extra health benefits. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) defines functional foods as “A food, which beneficially affects one or more target functions in the body, beyond adequate nutritional effects, in a way that is relevant to either an improved state of health and well-being and/or reduction of risk of disease.

"Functional foods" are not nutrient concentrates like food additives but reach the market in typical food forms. Terms like "designer foods" or "nutraceuticals" are sometimes used as synonyms for "functional foods".

Shimadzu provides the analytical toolbox for the detection of ingredients and contaminants of functional food products. Through our analytical expertise and instrumental capabilities, we offer complete solutions for the analysis of functional foods, ensuring the highest level of product quality and product safety.

SFE-SFC-MS/MS analysis of carotenoids in Capsicum samples

Functional Food

Carotenoids are beneficial antioxidants that can protect you from disease and enhance your immune system. Here we report an on-line method based on the coupling of supercritical fluid extraction and supercritical fluid chromatography with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry detection (SFE-SFC-MS/MS) for the native carotenoids characterization of 16 Capsicum varieties.

 

Determination of Functional Component in Agricultural Product: Lutein in Fresh Spinach by HPLC

Functional Food

In 1990s, functional foods labelled as “Food for Specified Health Uses” or FOSHU products was introduced in Japan domestic market [1]. Functional foods contain ingredients that offer specific health benefits. For example, lutein (C40H56O2), a carotenoid compound found in spinach and other green leaf vegetables, has several beneficial effects on eye health. Hence, Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) is listed as the Food with Functional Claims (FFC), a new regulatory system of health claim introduced in Japan in 2015. The Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS) are established to support the FFC new functional food system. In this application news, a HPLC method associated with the JAS 0008 (2019) monograph [2] is described and applied for the quantitation of lutein in fresh spinach.

 

Determination of Functional Component in Agricultural Product: β-cryptoxanthin in Mandarin Orange by HPLC

Functional Food

Satsuma Mandarin is listed as a functional food in Japan, which can be recognized by Functional Food Claims (FFC), a new regulatory system of health claim introduced in Japan in 2015. The Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS) are established to support the FFC new functional food system [1]. β-cryptoxanthin can be found in fruits such as mandarin orange, papaya, and mango. β-cryptoxanthin has several beneficial effects on human health, such as acting as an antioxidant on scavenging free radicals from our body for preventing cancer, being a precursor to vitamin A on improving human health vision, reducing the signs of ageing, etc. In this application news, a HPLC method associated with the JAS 0003 reference method [2] is described for quantitation of BCR in fresh mandarin orange.