6 out of 10 people consume 2 to 3 health functional foods
(Photo = Food and Drug Administration)
[아시아경제 김지희 기자] It was found that about 70% of adult men and women in Korea bought and consumed health functional foods.
According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the 7th, in November last year, a survey on the awareness of health functional foods among 1,500 men and women aged 19 and over nationwide said that 68.9% of respondents were’buying and ingesting health functional foods’.
Responses saying that they have purchased health functional foods are continuously increasing from 50.2% in 2012. The response rate was 60.6% in 2017, 63.6% in 2018, and 67.6% in 2019. Sales are also steadily increasing. The sales of health functional foods in Korea doubled from 1.409 trillion won in 2012 to about 3 trillion won in 2019.
In addition, it was found that consumers are relatively well aware of information on health functional foods. 70.9% of all respondents answered that they’know the difference from regular foods’, and 74.9% of all respondents answered that they’know the health functional food certification design’. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety advised that “health functional foods certified by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety are marked with the phrase’health functional food’ and a design of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification.
As a motive for purchasing health functional foods, acquaintance recommendations were the most at 33.7%. Internet advertisements (24.4%), others (24.1%), and home shopping advertisements (11.2%) were followed. 10.7% of respondents said that they bought after seeing’hype’.
In addition, close to 6 out of 10 respondents were found to consume 2 to 3 health functional foods. 23.9% of respondents said they consumed only one, and 12.9% said they took 4-5.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, “Health functional foods are foods that are safely manufactured using safe ingredients, but eating a lot of products with the same functionality does not increase the functionality.” Said.
Reporter Kim Ji-hee [email protected]