Product Planning Based on Health Claim Guideline-Deriving Methods and Framing Health Claim Labeling Regulations for Effective Health Functional Ingredient Registration

In this study, health claim labeling regulations for effective health-functional ingredient registration were analyzed from the perspective of health-functional food (HFF) companies. A focus group interview with HFF salespeople was conducted to prepare an online survey. The online quantitative survey was carried out to identify how companies respond to HFF regulations. The distribution channel of HFF has seen a shift from offline to online social networking services media. Also, consumers are seeking more detailed and personalized health information. With respect to product development, 30.2% of the total participants responded that they had experience registering and selling HFFs as general foods even though they met the health-functional food requirements. The primary reason for this was smoother publicity. Among the participants, 64.9% chose general foods as the direction for development of unregistered new materials. The participants quoted TV programs and actual experiences as promotional strategies for general foods. On the other hand, the promotions for health-functional food focused on delivering information within the scope permitted by the state. This study found that Korean HFF companies were changing their sales strategies in response to regulations that could not keep up with the changes in sales trends. In conclusion, to secure the effective promotion of HFFs while staying within the regulations for registering these products, it would be necessary to use limited promotional elements compared to general foods. Also, strategies suitable for new distribution media, such as online broadcasting and social media, would be required.