The International Festival of Natural Products and Functional Foods willbe held in Vietnam for the first time from September 27-29.
Organisers, including Vietnam Functional Food Association (VAFF), theASEAN Alliance of Health Supplement Associations (AAHSA) and the AsiaTrade Fair and Business Promotion Joint Stock Company, announced theevent at a press conference in Hanoi on July 2.
As many as 100 producers, traders, and distributors will showcasetheir products in 300 kiosks ranging from food supplements to medicinestailored for the elderly, children, and pregnant.
On display will be supplement and functional foods which strengthenthe immune system like milk, grains, tea and pep drinking and healthcareequipment.
VAFF President Tran Dang said thatthe festival will help businesses introduce their best-sellers and meetdirectly with a wider range of consumers.
Withits emphasis on natural ingredients, food supplements aim to improvegeneral health and immune system resistance and prevent non-infectiousillnesses including heart disease, hypertension, and cancer.
On the sideline of the festival, two workshops titled “Developingplant medicines for functional food production in Vietnam” and“Functional food development strategy from 2013 to 2020 and vision to2030” will also be held.
Functional foods havebeen available in Vietnam over the last ten years. Around 6 percentof the population reported using supplements regularly, with 43 percentof them living in urban areas.
The nation isbecoming a target market of famous foreign functional food producers(more than 5,500 kinds of supplements). The number of domesticenterprises and businesses are surging fast as well. However, publicawareness of functional foods remains limited while so many trademarksare here, thus creating challenges and problems for local people.-VNA