Athens, 'Transnational Focus Group ' Functional Foods in EU:What does the future hold? Untapped potential and challenges'

Taste is definitely a priority for consumers, but with the growth and increasing awareness of health and wellness, people are searching for foods and beverages that go beyond their basic nutritional needs. The future of functional foods will depend on continued advances in food science and developments of innovative technologies, new industrial products by food manufacturers wishing to use health or nutrition claims, as well as improved consumer understanding of claims.

Thus, the Athens Chamber of Commerce & Industry, with the support of KiNNO Consultants LTD. organized the 2nd Transnational Focus Group “Functional Foods in EU: What does the future hold? Untapped potential and challenges” held in Athens, Greece, on the 12th of January 2011 within the framework of the European project “TECH.FOOD - Solutions and interventions for the technological transfer and the innovation of the agro-food sector in South East regions”.

Participants included representatives from food industries, research centers, institutional actors and entrepreneurs from South Eastern European Countries (Greece, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Croatia & Serbia) who took the opportunity to be informed for relevant research and emerging technologies, exchange experiences, needs and solutions, be part of the network and form teams in order to jointly tackle the issue of functional food potential and challenges in the food sector.

For more information regarding the TECH.FOOD project and the event visit the project website: www.techfoodproject.eu