Rao Khan
Doctor of Philosophy, (Food Technology)
Study Completed: 2014
College of Health
Citation
Thesis Title
Characterisation of food product innovation with reference to bioactive functional food product development: an Asia-Pacific study
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
Functional food (health oriented food) is one of the major food categories in the global health and wellness market. This type of food is becoming a major focus of new product development (NPD) in the food industry. Mr Khan’s research indicates that food manufacturers in New Zealand and Singapore have not yet widely adopted new practices and models of developing health oriented foods. Rather a traditional internally closed NPD model with a major external input from customers and ingredient suppliers is still prevalent. There are signs of strengthened industry-university relationships for companies focussing on health orientated foods. However, Mr Khan’s research shows that current collaborations are not suited to radical functional food product innovation. Food manufacturers must adopt an interactive open NPD model that will cater for the need to develop health oriented radically innovative food products and generate competitive advantage in emerging markets.
Supervisors
Dr John Grigor
Mr Alan Win
Professor Ray Winger
Professor Mike Boland