Botanicals are once again in the spotlight—this time not as supplements, but as ingredients in functional foods. A hot-growth market, functional foods are now an area of hot legal controversy. No legal definition exists for functional food, but the term often refers to a cross between conventional foods and dietary supplements.
Product examples with botanicals include Arizona Rx Elixirs and Apple & Eve Tribal Tonics lines. Although such products may contain other dietary ingredients, this article addresses some of the development issues of food products with added botanicals.