Improving End-User Trust in the Quality of Commercial Probiotic Products

Conclusion Driven by compelling studies showing benefit in humans, their allure as a means of improving the function of the microbiota, and a strong marketplace, probiotics are popular globally. Yet the perceived quality of commercial probiotic products suffers from a lack of transparency. Recent anecdotal information suggests that a pressing question physicians have about probiotics is whether they can trust that probiotic product labels accurately reflect what’s in the bottle. Consumers have similar concerns. Manufacturers of probiotic products range from Fortune 100 companies to small startups, from companies committed to highest quality to those willing to take shortcuts. As mentioned previously, different published assessments of probiotics have communicated that some commercial products fall short of label declarations. Although regulatory standards exist in some regions, enforcement is uneven and typically focused on safety concerns rather than accuracy in labeling. It is incumbent on probiotic manufacturers to implement comprehensive quality control programs and product design to ensure that their products meet the label claim throughout shelf-life. We believe the time is now for industry to voluntarily improve transparency regarding probiotic product quality, even in the absence of regulatory requirements to do so. One approach is for companies to undergo unbiased third-party certification. Herein we discussed the necessary components of this process, which ...
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research