A influência da regulação do setor de alimentos nas relações da cadeia de alimentos funcionais

Abstract

The development of new products is an important source of differentiation, innovation and added value for companies to gain competitive advantage in the global agri-food scenario Functional Foods (FF) emerge as a market opportunity. FF are described as those food products with health benefits beyond the conventional nutritional value and their growth rate is outpacing the traditional processed food market. The regulation of FF is essential to create a propitious environment to innovation in industry and, at the same time, to ensure the benefits to consumers’ health. Due to the specificity involved in this food category, the FF supply chain structure differs from the traditional one. Therefore, in this study authors seek to identify the influence of regulation in the Brazilian supply chain of FF under the management of research e development of innovative functional food products. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted to achieve the objectives. Initially, secondary data were collected with government agencies and food industry. Direct observations were made in national fairs. Next, experts and members of the FF supply chain and Brazilian Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) were interviewed. All information was recorded, transcribed and further content analyzed using a qualitative data analysis program (NVivo 10©). Our results suggest that the Brazilian regulation negatively influences the development of FF supply chain. We highlight the importance of institutional factors, especially regulatory, as a driver to the innovation process. These factors can shape not only the company's decision to innovate, but also the governance alternatives’ to engage in innovation. We conclude that a clearer regulation is necessary in order to facilitate innovation-related initiatives in the Brazilian food sector. This work finally contributes when suggesting the integration of theory and institutional analysis of the supply chain to understand the innovation process and the structure of the food supply chain in the Brazilian context.