EN
The concept of food quality is well-known and ubiquitous but it still lacks an unambiguous definition. The aim of this paper is to present the essence of the food quality concept from the point of view of its health benefits and the ways of enhancing them. For this purpose functional foods are used as an example. In this paper the concept of food as well as its quality and health benefits are analyzed. What is more, some kinds of healthy food and the ways of obtaining them are outlined. To this end functional foods and possibilities of their development are analyzed. However, it is emphasized that, if possible, functional foods should be complementary to a balanced and varied diet as one of the elements of the so called "healthy lifestyle" because, as in the case of any undertaking, using such foods carries some risk with it.