The food industry is one of the most important branches of the national economy in Italy and in the European Union in general, playing a central role for the processing of agricultural raw materials and food supply. This industry is traditionally regarded as a sector with low research intensity; notwithstanding, innovations are recognized as an important instrument for companies belonging to the food industry in order to stand out from competitors and to satisfy consumer expectations. In this regard, functional foods play an outstanding role, as demonstrated by their increasing demand derived from the increasing cost of healthcare, the steady increase of life expectancy, and the desire of older people for improved quality of their later years. The main target of this paper is to analyze the state of the art on functional foods. For this purpose, a review of the extant literature is presented. Specific emphasis is laid on the definition and the main examples of functional food. The paper concludes with comments on future trends. Fermented meats are unique products, often represented as elements of culinary heritage and identity. Yet, their success has often been compromised throughout history because of health and safety issues. Moreover, contemporary industrialized products are sometimes perceived as of inferior quality. Therefore, novel strategies are emerging to influence quality and healthiness. This is remarkable, since meat fermentation is considered to be a long-established process, and valued as such. Within a context of innovation, “artisan” elements are employed in marketing stratagems. This contrasts with process alterations, highlighting the volatility of models for “quality”, “safety”, “tradition”, and “innovation” in food approaches. This information can be published in our peer-reviewed journal with impact factors and are calculated using citations not only from research articles but also review articles (which tend to receive more citations), editorials, letters, meeting abstracts, short communications, and case reports. The inclusion of these publications provides the opportunity for editors and publishers to manipulate the ratio used to calculate the impact factor and try to increase their number rapidly. The impact factor plays a major role in the particular journal. Journal with a higher impact factor is considered to be more important than other ones.