The Development of Functional Food in Indonesia: Based on Regulation Compared to Other Countries

: The trend of the prevalence of degenerative diseases is increasing nowadays including in Indonesia. As the level of education and the level of income of the Indonesian people grow, consumers' desire for food products is increasingly complex. In choosing food products, people today do not only choose foods that have a satisfying effect but are looking for products with other advantages, one of which is functional value for health. In developing functional food products in the food industry, many aspects must be considered and influenced for development. One of these aspects is the regulation governing the functional food. With the existence of clarity of regulation in the registration of functional food or food with claims to be an opportunity for the food industry in Indonesia to produce healthy food. however, many regulations governing food have caused the growth of the food industry in Indonesia to begin to decline. This paper examines the development of functional food based on regulation in Indonesia and compared to other countries such as Canada, India, Thailand, and Malaysia. Regulations regarding functional food issued by Indonesia are not much different from countries that have issued similar regulations. The food industry that will sell food products with health or other functional claims must provide scientific evidence and clinical trials to humans. However, this is burdensome for the food industry because clinical trials on food that are applied are almost the same as clinical trials on medicinal products.