Comparative Study in Functional Food Technology: A Bibliometric

Analysis

Ria Hardiyati

, Indah Purwaningsih

, Muhammad Zulhamdani

, Chichi Sintia Laksani

and Yan

Rianto

Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Gatot Subroto Street No. 10, South Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Functional Food; Research and Development; Bibliometric; Co-word Analysis.

Abstract: Growth in the global food and beverage industry continues driven by health and wellness. So society has

high expectations for companies in this industry that products can meet the demand of consumers for a

healthy lifestyle. From that situation, functional food has a specific role. Data from Grand View Research

Report shows that the global Functional Foods market is valued at 153,600 million US$ in 2018 and is

expected to reach 260,400 million US$ by the end of 2025. The functional food and nutraceutical market in

the USA currently the most massive and most rapidly expanding in the world with supports major imports

from Japan, North and South Korea, China, India, Brazil, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand and

other parts of the world. If Indonesia wants to take part in the functional food market, it is necessary to

advance research and development (R&D) in functional food. So it is necessary to study the development of

functional food R&D from several leading countries. This study sought to examine the development of

functional food R&D in Brazil, India, China, and Germany, based on scientific publications in Scopus. The

analysis was carried out using a bibliometric approach and co-word analysis. The results of this study

provide an overview of the development of functional food R&D, especially technologies in Indonesia and

4 other countries.

1 INTRODUCTION

Growth in the global food and beverage industry

continues driven by health and wellness. So society

has high expectations for companies in this industry

that products can meet the demand of consumers for

a healthy lifestyle. From that situation, functional

food has a specific role. Data from Grand View

Research Report shows that the global Functional

Foods market is valued at 153,600 million US$ in

2018 and is expected to reach 260,400 million US$

by the end of 2025. The functional food and

nutraceutical market in the USA currently the most

massive and most rapidly expanding in the world

with supports major imports from Japan, North and

South Korea, China, India, Brazil, the European

Union, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of

the world (Vergari, Tibuzzi and Basile, 2010). The

process development of new functional food is

expensive. The requirement to develop a functional

food product is detailed knowledge of the products

and the customers. The food industry takes into

consideration many variables to develop or re-

engineer functional products in order to meet needs

and expectancies in the area of functional foods

(Betoret et al., 2011). Food companies are

developing technologies for processing health and

wellness products that will improve the efficacy of

these products, maximize the potential benefits to

consumers, and be cost-effective for the industry’s

survival in a competitive marketplace (Aryee and

Boye, 2015). That is why we need to know the

development of functional food research, especially

regarding developing technologies and compare with

countries whose functional food industries have

developed.

Bibliometric analysis is commonly applied to

track the developing research trends, or finding out

the influences of publications, also to compare the

academic performance among regions in a certain

research field. This bibliometric technique has been

applied in the domain of obesity using data from

PubMed (Vioque et al., 2010), and another study

Hardiyati, R., Purwaningsih, I., Zulhamdani, M., Laksani, C. and Rianto, Y.

Comparative Study in Functional Food Technology: A Bibliometric Analysis.

DOI: 10.5220/0009985800002964

In Proceedings of the 16th ASEAN Food Conference (16th AFC 2019) - Outlook and Opportunities of Food Technology and Culinary for Tourism Industry, pages 76-82

ISBN: 978-989-758-467-1

analyzed research trends from 1993 to 2012 with

Scopus as the data source (Khan et al., 2016).

Quantitative approaches, such as computer-based

methods and bibliometrics, can provide a

complementary result to handle massive data for

exploring promising technologies (Ciarli, Coad and

Rafols, 2015). In particular, bibliometrics has been

widely used as a powerful and helpful tool for

monitoring research trends (Soranzo, Nosella and

Filippini, 2016) or technological trajectories

(Roepke and Moehrle, 2014; Chen et al., 2015; Zhou

et al., 2015; Marvin et al., 2017; Park and Magee,

2017) or analyzing technological changes (Cho and

Kim, 2014; Lee, Lee and Sohn, 2016) using various

data, such as publications, patents, and other.

However, the assessment of research output for food

science and technology, in general, and for

functional food, in particular, are scarce in the

literature.

This study aimed to examine the development of

functional food research, especially regarding

developing technologies in Indonesia and compare it

with Brazil, India, China, and Germany, based on

scientific publications in Scopus. We investigated

the research trends through a bibliometric analysis.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1 Search strategy

Bibliometric data can be acquired through various

search engines, one of them is the Scopus. This

database was selected to collect for as much as

possible published articles on functional food. The

justification we use Scopus as our data source to

retrieve bibliometric data given is because it has

broader resources and is consistently more accurate

than other alternatives such as PubMed, Web of

Science and Google Scholar (Falagas et al., 2008;

Kulkarni et al., 2009; Khan et al., 2016).

Researchers in several domains have applied the

bibliometric analysis. Recently, the research scope

expands constantly, and people use it for reference

management or literature study. Co-word analysis,

proposed in the late 70s in the 20th century by the

French bibliometric scientists. The summarize of its

principle is when two or more keywords

representing a special research topic appeared in the

same dissertation have essential relationships (Chen

et al., 2016). The more co-occurrence between two

keywords, it means the closer their relationship is.

This method is helpful for researchers to learn an

overview of a field. So it plays an essential role in

identifying the value of academic discipline

(Musgrove et al., 2003; Zong et al., 2013).

The Scopus database was searched from its

inception until July 25, 2019 with limitation in

affiliation country. The keywords pertaining to

functional food were: functional beverage,

functional food, and functional drink. The keywords

regarding function of bioactive compound in food

were: anti diabetic, antioxidant activity, prebiotic,

anti-aging, anti-cholesterol, anti-cancer, oxidative

stress, antihypertensive, cardiovascular drug,

antibacterial activity, anti diarrhea, immunology,

probiotic, anti-obesity, noncommunicable disease,

anti-allergic. The two sets of keywords were

searched and combining with the “AND” logic in

the “Article title/Abstract/Keywords” fields. The

final search query was built like this:

((TITLE-ABS-KEY("functional beverage") OR

TITLE-ABS-KEY("functional food") OR TITLE-

ABS-KEY("functional drink")) AND

AFFILCOUNTRY(Indonesia)) OR ( TITLE-ABS-

KEY ( "food" ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "bioactive

compound" ) AND ( TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "anti

diabetic" ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "Antioxidant

Activity" ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ( prebiotic ) OR

TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "anti aging" ) OR TITLE-

ABS-KEY ( “anti cholesterol” ) OR TITLE-ABS-

KEY ( “anti cancer” ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (

"Oxidative Stress" ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (

"antihypertensive" ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (

"cardiovascular drug" ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (

"Antibacterial Activity" ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (

"anti diarhea" ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (

"immunology" ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ( probiotic )

OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "anti obesity" ) OR

TITLE-ABS-KEY (“non communicable disease” )

OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“anti allergic” )) AND

AFFILCOUNTRY ( indonesia ) ).

All of the bibliographical information, citation

information, abstract and keywords, funding details

and other information of the retrieved publications

were exported with CSV format, for further data

processing.

2.2 Data analysis

All bibliometric information exported into CSV

format from the Scopus database. Data visualization

and analysis were conducted using the VOSviewer

technique to create co-word networks based on title

(van Eck and Waltman, 2010).

Co-Word Network Analysis was carried out to

examine the co-word network in functional foods

research. Co-Word Analysis also called co-

Comparative Study in Functional Food Technology: A Bibliometric Analysis

occurrance map in Library and Information Science.

It is one of the quantitative methods for analyzing

scientific publications. In general, this method is

used to understand current conditions of the research

theme in certain fields, and sometimes it used to

examine the evolution of the theme that has

occurred. Co-Word Analysis is performed by

looking at the occurence of a term in a set of

documents, then linking the terms that appear on the

same document. The form of document can be a

book, journal, abstract, or title. Data mapping and

term of technologies in functional food extracted

from VOSviewer.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Number of publications

Research on functional foods in Indonesia yielded a

total of 568 publications. The first article on

functional foods published in 1990, and the annual

publication numbers were increased in the following

nearly 10 years till 2019. A dramatic growth

observed in the last 5 years from 2015 to 2019. The

highest number of annual publications was seen in

2018, totaling 171 publications. In terms of

document type, the majority were research articles

(n=368, 64.79%), followed by conference paper

(n=157, 27.64%) and review articles (n=27, 4.75%).

The number of Indonesian publications in

functional food is still far behind when compared to

4 other countries, namely Brazil, China, India, and

Germany (see Figure 1). Even with India and Brazil

which have many similarities, both from the

potential of raw materials from nature and the

progress of their research, with Indonesia.

Figure 1: Indonesia's annual publication of functional food

compared to other countries for last 10 years.

In 2011, number of Indonesian publication in

functional food increase sharply, Brazil in 2004,

China in 2005, India in 2006, and Germany in 2007.

Also in 2011, Regulation of the head of The

National Agency of Drug & Food Control (BPOM)

regarding health claims in labels and processed food

advertising supervision is enacted. In this regulation,

claim must have scientific proof. This significant

augmentation of publication number on functional

foods has relation with needs of scientific proof for

health claim.

This condition also similar in Brazil, China,

India, and Germany. Brazil sharply increase in 2004,

where in the same year regulation about the

scientific proof of health claims was enacted. In

2004, ANVISA published Guidelines for the use, in

labels of food, of claims for nutrients with functions

widely recognized by the scientific community.

China in 2005 enacted The Administration

Regulation for Health Food, India in 2005 enacted

The Food Safety and Standards Act, and in 2007

Germany/EU enacted The Administration

Regulation for Health Food.

3.2 Co-Word Analysis

Figure 2(a) and 2(b) shows visualization of co-

word analysis based on document title of Indonesian

publication in functional foods. We can see that

prior to 2011, functional food research was still

partial and not yet focused on providing scientific

evidence of health claims. Starting in 2011,

functional food research has focused on providing

scientific evidence on health claims. This can be

seen from the terms that appear like "effect",

"characterization", "identification", and "bioactive

compound".

Figure 2(a): Network visualization of Indonesian

publication in 1990 – 2010.

16th AFC 2019 - ASEAN Food Conference

Figure 2(b): Network visualization of Indonesian

publication in 2011 – 2019.

Figure 3(a) and 3(b) shows visualization of co-

word analysis based on document title of Brazilian

publication in functional foods. We can see that

prior to 2004, functional food research was still

partial and not yet focused on providing scientific

evidence of health claims. Starting in 2004,

functional food research has focused on providing

scientific evidence on health claims. This can be

seen from the terms that appear like "effect", "rat",

"risk factor", and "bioactive compound".

Figure 3(a): Network visualization of Brazilian publication

in 1980 – 2003.

Figure 3(b): Network visualization of Brazilian

publication in 2004 – 2019.

Figure 3(a) and 3(b) shows visualization of co-

word analysis based on document title of Indian

publication in functional foods. We can see that even

prior to 2006, functional food research of India focus

on provides scientific evidience about effect

bioactive compound on health claims. This can be

seen from the terms that appear like "effect",

"mouse", "study", and "bioactive compound". But

starting in 2006, co-word network of functional food

publication is bigger and raw materials which are

examined for the effects of bioactive compounds are

increasing. Also the research more focus for

providing the scientific evidence for health claim.

There are specific term such as ‘immune response”,

“nutrition”, “diet”, “high fat diet”, and “food

industry”.

Figure 4(a): Network visualization of Indian publication in

1977 – 2005.

Figure 4(b): Network visualization of Indian publication in

2006 – 2019.

Research overview of India not much different from

the overview of Chinese and Germany research.

Comparative Study in Functional Food Technology: A Bibliometric Analysis

Figure 5(a): Network visualization of Chinese publication

in 1980 – 2004.

(b)

Figure 5(b): Network visualization of Chinese publication

in 2005 – 2019.

Figure 6(a): Network visualization of Germany

publication in 1974 – 2006.

Figure 6(b): Network visualization of Germany

publication in 2007 – 2019.

There is the fact that thousands of FDA regulations

impact the willingness of manufacturers to branch

outside their “safety-net” and develop new ideas,

technologies and products. The FDA outline and

propose the regulations through influence the

ingredients, technological processes, packaging, and

labeling involved in the development (Alicea A.

Glueck-Chaloupka, Capella and Coggins, 2005).

4 DISCUSSION

Indonesian technology capacity on functional food

development similar compare to Brazil, India,

China, and Germany. Technology capacity before

health claim regulation is enacted between

Indonesia, Brazil, India, China, and Germany there

is no too much significant difference (see Table 1).

As well as after health claim regulation is

enacted. Indonesian researchers possess functional

food technology that is not much different from

researchers from Brazil, India, China, and Germany

(see Table 2). But why Indonesia's functional food

industry lags behind Brazil, India, China, and

Germany?

Table 1: Functional food technologies before health claim

regulation is enacted.

Indonesia

(1990-2010)

Brazil

(1979-

2003)

India

(1971-2005)

Germany

(1968-2006)

China

(1980-

2005)

extraction

fermentation

extraction

low feed

efficient

broiler

feed

biotechnology

characterization

enrichment

vacuum

impregnation

method

vapor contact

method

probiotic feed

additive

roasting

characterization

16th AFC 2019 - ASEAN Food Conference

Indonesia

(1990-2010)

Brazil

(1979-

2003)

India

(1971-2005)

Germany

(1968-2006)

China

(1980-

2005)

edible film

(bactery,

biofilm)

identification

possible

compound

Table 2: Functional food technologies after enact health

claim regulation.

Indonesia

(2011-2019)

Brazil

(2004-2019)

India

(2006-2019)

Germany

(2007-2019)

China

(2006-2019)

soxhlet

extraction

extraction,

ultrasound

assisted

extraction

solvent,

ultrasound

assisted

extraction

solvent

extract,

extraction

solvent,

ultrasound

assisted

extraction

fortification,

enriched

fortification,

enriched

fortification

enrichment

crossbreed

cultivation

feed additive

roasting

freezing

gamma

irradiation

gamma

irradiation,

irradiation

encapsulation,

microencapsula

tion,

microparticles

and

nanoparticles

encapsulation,

microencapsul

ation

encapsulation,

microencapsula

tion

microencapsu

lation

encapsulation,

microencapsu

lation

high pressure

high

pressure

extrusion

hydrolysis

enzymatic

treatment,

enzymatic

hydrolysis

enzymatic

hydrolysis

enzymatic

treatment

fermentation

food

fermentation

metabolic

engineering

edible films

and coatings

film and

coating

edible

coating

edible

coating

vacuum

impregnation

The trajectories of technological possibilities are

entirely foreseeable with an increased gain of

knowledge, insight and engineering capacities.

However, legal, economic, and societal aspects, as

well as public opinion, play a significant role in

determining whether new technologies and methods

may be applied or not.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Indonesian technology development before health

claim regulation is enacted similarly compared to

Brazil, China, India, and German. As well as after

health claim regulation is enacted. However, why

Indonesia's functional food industry lags behind

Brazil, India, China, and Germany? The trajectories

of technological possibilities are entirely foreseeable

with an increased gain of knowledge, insight and

engineering capacities. However, legal, economic,

and societal aspects, as well as public opinion, play a

significant role in determining whether new

technologies and methods may be applied or not..

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors acknowledge the Ministry of Research,

Technology and Higher Education for funding this

research via Insinas Research Grant 2019, and

P2KMI LIPI for the support during the research.

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16th AFC 2019 - ASEAN Food Conference