FOOD'S IMPACT ON DISEASE PREVENTION POISED TO LEAP FORWARD;

REGULATORY INNOVATION BENEFITING CONSUMER HEALTH IS URGED

Functional foods are at the threshold of unprecedented influence on public health and disease prevention.
A new expert report declares that advances in science and food technology are growing so rapidly that
the food industry and government must quicken their pace to ensure food's greatest benefits on public health.

The report, Functional Foods: Opportunities and Challenges, commissioned by the not-for-profit scientific
society Institute of Food Technologists, is an exhaustive review of current methods, and emphasizes recommendations to accelerate future research and development, regulation and marketing of functional
foods. The report calls for expanded research on traditional nutrients, other bioactive food components,
and the intersection of genomics and molecular nutrition.

Press Conference Participants:
Fergus Clydesdale, Ph.D., Expert Report chair and co-author
Diane F. Birt, Ph.D., Expert Report co-author
Gilbert A. Leveille, Ph.D., Expert Report co-author
C. Ann Hollingsworth, Ph.D., Past-president IFT
Barbara Byrd Keenan, CAE, Exec. Vice President, IFT