Overview of Regulations and Development Trends of Functional Foods in Malaysia

This chapter is an overview of functional food with a specific focus on the regulations and development trends in Malaysia. The topics discussed were the Western vs. Eastern perspective on functional food, the role of functional foods in unique culture such as Malaysia and an overview of recent functional food research in Malaysia in the last three years. These were followed by the following areas of discourse: an overview of the regulatory environment governing functional food in Malaysia, regulations concerning nutrition labels and health claims, discussion on the market size, structure and development trends of functional foods in Malaysia and finally the demand and future challenges for functional food in Malaysia.