paragraph_text: Pojam se prvi put pojavio u Japanu 1984.godine.<ref>Arai, S. (2002): Global view on functional foods: Asia perspectives. British Journal of Nutrition 88 (6), 139-143 Zakonska regulativa za funkcionalnu hranu je uvedena u Japanu godine 1991.<ref>Nagata, J. i Yamada, K. (2008): Foods with Health Claims in Japan. Food Science and Technology Research 14 (6), 519-524 i hrana koja zadovoljava ove zakonske kriterije se naziva "Hrana za specifičnu zdravstvenu namjenu".<ref>www.mhlw.go.jp, ''Food for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU); FOSHU refers to foods containing ingredient with functions for health and officially approved to claim its physiological effects on the human body. FOSHU is intended to be consumed for the maintenance / promotion of health or special health uses by people who wish to control health conditions, including blood pressure or blood cholesterol. In order to sell a food as FOSHU, the assessment for the safety of the food and effectiveness of the functions for health is required, and the claim must be approved by the MHLW.'', pristupljeno 18. veljače 2016.