Development of functional beverages from herbs: aspect of nutrition, processing and safety

Indonesia has various herbal plants which potentially developed as functional food. Herbal plants such as ginger, lemongrass and pandan leaves can be processed into functional beverages as immune system booster. Functional beverages must fulfill two main functions, first having nutritional content and second, providing acceptable sensory functions such as good taste and texture. The processing of herbal plants into functional beverages requires knowledge of the bioactive compounds content, the ability of these compounds to boost the immune system and the safety of the resulting products. The safety of functional drinks products can be analyzed through the determination of the critical point (Critical Control Point) for the functional drinks processing.