First Such Certification System for Functional Food | Gdańsk University of Technology

Functional food is food that provides additional health benefits on top of its basic nutritional value. They are enriched with active ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre, polyunsaturated fatty acids, probiotics, prebiotics, amino acids, peptides or antioxidants, which support health and may contribute to reducing the risk of developing civilisation diseases.

Currently, there is no legal definition of functional food within the European Union. Neither has there been a comprehensive system for the promotion of functional food, but only a focus on legal regulations for the presentation of bioactive ingredients with particular nutritional properties.

The aim of the F-FOOD system is to improve the quality of food available on the market, promote healthy lifestyle and introduce personalised nutrition. It also informs consumers who, thanks to labelling, will be able to choose products that have health benefits.

The system was founded as an initiative of seven Polish universities and research institutes: the Medical University of Łódź, the Jagiellonian University (Cracow), the Medical University of Gdańsk, the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Wrocław), Gdańsk University of Technology and Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa.

Functional Food Research Centre 

For the coordination of the programme, the Functional Food Research Centre (Centrum Badawcze Żywności Funkcjonalnej, acronym CBŻF), which is a special purpose vehicle, was set up in 2023, and has developed the European Union Certification Mark F-FOOD, which intends to help distinguish products with special nutritional value. The CBŻF’s activities are oriented towards the comprehensive development of the functional food market in Poland, encompassing research, production, processing, certification, trade and export.

‘It is a new, game-changing initiative with a high degree of innovation both nationally and in Europe. F-FOOD creates unique opportunities for Polish food manufacturers and ensures the highest quality standards. Thanks to the collaboration of multiple scientific institutions, we can jointly build a reality in which functional food will become a key element of preventive healthcare,’ highlights Mariusz Machajewski from Gdańsk University of Technology’s SPV Excento, a shareholder in CBŻF.

Cooperation with Scientists and Authorised Laboratories

Certification involves rigorous analysis and testing to ensure that products meet the highest quality and health standards. The universities have authorised laboratories where product analyses, assessments of the achievability of nutritional and health claims and analyses of the potential to modify the composition of products can be performed. The aim of these analyses is to prepare products for evaluation and registration in the system under the F-FOOD EU Certification Mark. The process of evaluating products that are candidates for the F-FOOD Mark includes registration, assessment of the compliance of product characteristics with the requirements in regulations, determination of the F-FOOD Index Table and issuing of the Certificate of Conformity.

The Centre's Purpose and Mission

CBŻF is aimed at developing Poland's new sector in food industry by building a system for certification, production, processing, trade and export of functional food. CBŻF’s mission includes the development of the functional food market, the development of new types of food that reduce the risk of civilisation diseases and the introduction of an EU F-FOOD certification system for food with special nutritional value. Moreover, the Centre emphasises the development of research in nutrigenomics and nutrimetabolomics, thus supporting personalised nutrition.

The Future of Functional Food

Only Japan has introduced an official certification system for functional foods throughout the world. As the European Union has not yet established quality systems and a market for functional and personalised food, we are faced with an enormous opportunity to be among the first to define, organise and, even better, lead this market – a goal CBŻF aims to achieve.

Scientific and technological cooperation within the F-FOOD system is an opportunity to further develop the functional food market, which could become a key element in the health strategy for the years to come.

Learn more at: https://f-food.pl/