Funkcionalna hrana je ona hrana koja pored osnovnih nutrijenata nužnih za rast i razvoj organizma sadrži i sastojke koji poboljšavaju zdravlje ili smanjuju rizik od nastanka bolesti, a konzumira se kao sastavni dio svakodnevne prehrane. Termin „funkcionalna hrana“ prvi se put javlja u Japanu tijekom 80-ih godina dvadesetog stoljeća, a razvio se kao pokušaj sprečavanja rasta zdravstvenih troškova potrebnih za liječenje bolesti uzrokovanih starenjem stanovništva. Različita znanstvena istraživanja pokazala su da konzumiranje
hrane koja sadrži funkcionalne sastojke (bilo da se prirodno nalaze u hrani ili da je namirnica nekim tehnološkim postupkom obogaćena funkcionalnim sastojkom) ima pozitivan utjecaj na očuvanje zdravlja i smanjenje rizika od nastanka raznih bolesti. Tijekom godina ulažu se sve veći napori u smjeru obogaćivanja hrane funkcionalnim sastojcima s ciljem prevencije bolesti i poboljšanja zdravlja te posljedično smanjenja zdravstvenih troškova. U ovom radu naglasak je stavljen na namirnice animalnog podrijetla – meso, jaja,
mliječni proizvodi – i njihove sastojke i svojstva koja ih čine funkcionalnom hranom. Također se spominju zakonske odredbe i način označavanja hrane s naglaskom na europske propise.Functional food is food which, in addition to the basic nutrients needed for growth and development of the organism, contains ingredients that improve health or reduce the risk of disease, and is consumed as an integral part of daily diet. The term "functional food" was first reported in Japan during the 1980s and it was developed as an attempt to prevent the growth of health care costs required for the treatment of diseases caused by aging of the population. Various scientific studies have shown that consuming foods containing functional ingredients (either naturally found in foods or added to foods by means of some technological process) has a positive impact on health and reducing the risk of various diseases. Over the years, scientists are investing more and more efforts to enrich food with
functional ingredients in order to prevent diseases and improve health and consequently reduce health costs. In this paper, emphasis is placed on foods of animal origin - meat, eggs, dairy products - and their ingredients and properties that make them functional food. Legal provisions and the way of labelling food with an emphasis on European regulations are also mentioned
