Health food is a kind of food, which has the characteristics of general food, can regulate human function and is suitable for specific people to eat, but it can't treat diseases. Health (functional) food is called "health food" in Europe and America and "functional food" in Japan. The rise of health (functional) food in China was in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After the development of the first generation and the second generation, it will enter the third generation, that is, health food not only needs human and animal experiments to prove that the product has certain physiological regulation function, but also needs to understand the structure, content, mechanism of action and its stable form in food.

The difference between health food and ordinary food

Article 2 of the national standard GB/T15901-1994 fundamental terms of food industry defines "general food" as "substances that can be eaten or drunk by human beings, including processed food, semi-finished products and unprocessed food, excluding tobacco or substances that are only used as medicines." Codex Stan 1: 1985 "prepackaged foods General Labeling Standard" defines "general food" as: "It refers to any substance for human consumption, whether processed, semi-processed or unprocessed, including beverages, chewing gum and any substance used for food manufacturing, preparation or processing; But it does not include cosmetics, tobacco or substances used only for medicine. " Although the definitions of national standards and international standards are expressed in different words, their meanings are the same, which can be summarized as: all substances for human consumption. In Article 3.l of GB 16740- 1997 "General Standard for Health (Functional) Foods", health (functional) foods are defined as: "Health (functional) foods are foods that have general food characteristics, can regulate human functions, and are suitable for specific people to eat, but are not aimed at treating diseases.

General food is different from health (functional) food.

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Health (functional) food and general food can provide basic nutrients necessary for human survival (the first function of food), and both have specific color, fragrance, taste and shape (the second function of food).

Difference:

(1) Health-care (functional) food contains a certain amount of functional ingredients (physiologically active substances), which can regulate human functions and have specific functions (the third function of food); The general food does not emphasize the specific function (the third function of food).

(2) Health (functional) foods generally have a specific scope of consumption (specific population), while general foods have no specific scope of consumption.

There are also physiologically active substances in general food. Because of the low content, it is impossible to achieve the concentration of regulating function in human body and achieve the drug effect. Physiologically active substances in health (functional) food are extracted, separated and concentrated (or some physiologically active substances with high purity are added) to make them reach the concentration of action in human body, thus having the third function of food.