|
IGD created the Food Production Strategy Group (FPSG) in 2000 with a brief to identify food production issues that may affect the food chain and help to facilitate a more considered introduction of new technologies in the future.
Food and drinks have emerged over the last six years or so that bring a new dimension to the improvements of wellbeing by diet. Commonly referred to as functional foods, they are just part of an ever more complex jigsaw that recognises that many foodstuffs have a key role to play in health enhancement and maintenance. As a consequence, foods for wellbeing of which functional foods are a subset are an integral part of any future nutrition and health strategies.
The FPSG therefore set up the ‘Future Foods for Wellbeing Working Group’ with a brief to improve food chain knowledge about how food will have an impact on human health in the future and to produce a vision that anticipates opportunities and hurdles for Future Foods for Wellbeing (FFWB). In addition, the influences that the emerging science that underlies future foods for wellbeing will have on the consumer, industry and government were also to be considered.
To produce this vision and to identify key future concerns the working group conducted an International Delphi Survey at the latter end of 2002. This research methodology has been used for predicting future developments in many fields.
An International Expert Panel was recruited, with expertise about diverse aspects of food and health. Each was asked individually to predict developments in several key areas and then comment on the answers of other members of the group through three rounds of information gathering.
The aims of the survey were:
- To identify how future food purchases might be influenced by science.
- To highlight possible future directions in wellbeing food choice.
- To identify, prioritise and advise the IGD Policy Issues Council on the main influences on consumer response to foods for wellbeing.
- To examine and identify future food technologies and their potential impact on consumer response to wellbeing foods and their perception of the food industry in general.
- To consider policies and programmes to facilitate the widespread uptake of the technology created by science related to future foods for wellbeing.
- To facilitate debate on the role of wellbeing foods in the 21st century.
- The report represents the views of The Expert Panel opinions of a rapidly changing field of science based on what is happening now and what they anticipate future developments to be.
|
