New functional foods are appearing in the Basque food industry in a bid to satisfy consumers who are increasingly demanding healthy, easy-to-prepare products.

One of the major forces behind this development is the Azti-Tecnalia food research centre, which is spearheading the drive to find these products with two other local research organizations, Leartiker Agroalimentaria and the Leia centre.
What the industry describes as functional products contain high levels of biologically active components offering benefits for health or desirable physiological effects beyond basic nutrition.

Back in 2003 functional products already had a 15 per cent share of total food consumption. Today that share is up to 26 per cent, and the business is expected to multiply in the coming decade.

Demand for this type of product comes from a new consumer who is more aware of the links between diet and health and is looking for products with preventive effects over illness and diseases like cancer, cholesterol, osteoporosis and so on, or which help in the fight against obesity.

In the Basque region, Azti-Tecnalia, which in recent years has developed ten patents for new food processes and products, works with dairy products, surimi derivate, fish and anchovy analogues, sausages made from mackerel, new, healthier aperitifs, or food in the so-called fourth and fifth range.

Cooperating with major firms in the region's food industry like Kaiku Corporación Alimentaria, Celigüeta, Conservas Garavilla and Angulas Aguinaga, Azti-Tecnalia, offers an integral service encompassing feasibility studies, pilot developments, pre-industrial scaling and market launch. Leia also designs new functional foods while Leartiker Agroalimentaria is currently working on projects such as Probigur (liquid probiotic yoghurt) for Mahala and Di-Da (a protein-rich, low-fat meat product) for local firm Arrizabalaga.