Probiotic Quality Standards
Probiotics have emerged as one of the fastest growing product categories with a significant number of new products being launched into the market. The success have created a need for the industry to agree on well defined standards for probiotic product quality, labelling and scientific documentation.
In this context, ISAPP (International Scientific Association For Probiotics and Prebiotics) has emerged as the leading independent and no-profit scientific association with participation of many of the worlds leading academic and industrial scientists with expert knowledge on probiotics.
ISAPP has issued numerous publications, positioning statements and other papers with pertinent information about probiotics.
In parallel IPA (International Probiotics Association) is actively working with government bodies and industry to assist in establishing standards for probiotic supplements, probiotic pharmaceutical products and functional foods.
ISAPP and IPA are supported by academia and a large number of companies involved with probiotics. Bifodan is a member of IPA.
One of the challenges facing the probiotic industry is that commercial products frequently are incorrectly labelled and fail to meet label claim for product potency. The latter is of course a concern as product viability is a perquisite for product efficacy.
With the initiatives of ISAPP and IPA and a general tougher regulatory environment for probiotics; demand on the manufacturers and marketers of probiotics will intensify. This development is critical to maintain the integrity of probiotics and secure a sustainable growth for the industry.
To learn more about the important work of ISAPP and IPA, we encourage you to visit their websites:
