Spain: an innovator in the global functional food market

From an overall sales perspective, Spain may not be the largest functional food and beverage market in the world — or even in Europe, for that matter — but a strong case exists for arguing that it is the most dynamic. In most countries — save Scandinavia, Japan and maybe Australia — functional foods and beverages are typically niche products purchased by a core group of health-conscious, usually middle-class consumers; but in Spain, these products have broached the mainstream to near unprecedented levels. On the product side, an estimated 26% of Spanish foods and beverages have been fortified in some way to...