An industry group that includes Danone and Dupont-Danisco as members has written to the European Commission to reinstate the use of the EU-banned term ‘probiotic’ on products across the bloc.
Irish authorities have clarified the country’s position in regard to probiotic health claims, taking a literal reading of the EU position that the term ‘probiotic’ alone is an implied health claim.
"We hope these results will prompt physicians to consider its use.”
The capacity of probiotics to ease diarrhoea and other problems associated with antibiotic use in some patients has received fresh backing after a review of studies conducted by University of Toronto researchers.
Consuming supplements and food containing probiotics may reduce the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, according to a systematic review from the prestigious Cochrane Collaboration.
Following the success of the first Microwarriors documentary, Health Point Productions is now working on the sequel: Microwarriors 2, with Leonard Nimoy lined up to narrate.
Probiotic leader Chr Hansen is targeting dairy players with an L. Lactis probiotic strain it says produces vitamin K at significant enough levels to utilise approved health claims.
Chr. Hansen is still positive about probiotics – including in Europe – despite disappointing results in another two clinical trials, according to Chr. Hansen’s chief financial officer (CFO) Klaus Pedersen.
Using salmon eggs as their inspiration, Brazilian food scientists have developed probiotic beads for use in an expanded range of foods, including oriental cuisine.
Poland’s €583m vitamins and minerals food supplements market is evolving toward ever-more sophisticated and specific claims according to a market analyst.
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is calling for views on an application from Japan’s Miyarisan Pharmaceutical for European Union Novel Foods status for a probiotic strain.
King’s College Hospital in London is investigating the potential of a proprietary probiotic blend to benefit those suffering from diverticular disease.
Seven webinars. Brand and supplier insights. Regulatory analysis. Market analysis. Marketing analysis. Science. You had better put this in your diary...
Hopes are rising that the use of the term ‘probiotic’ will not have to disappear on products following the failure of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to give approval for a generic health claim for the ingredient last year.
Irish supplier Willows Ingredients has launched a UK-based European division to target smaller continental European markets and says the Eurozone economic problems are no barrier to growth.
Supplements containing the probiotic BLIS K12 ingredient may reduce the reoccurrence of throat infections and tonsillitis by up to 90%, according to data from new clinical trials from Italy.
Global probiotics leader Chr Hansen is throwing €20m at the expansion of its Danish freeze-drying capacity with increasing global pharma and food supplement demand the key driver.
Leatherhead Food Research nutrition research manager Roberta Re calls for more rigorous science after pouring over the latest serving of article 13.5 opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in this guest article. All were ultimately refused,...
There is no surprise in the latest batch of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) article 13.5 health claim rejections as the science presented in six dossiers was “lousy”, a consultant told us today.
The European probiotic sector is moving forward with research around probiotic strain clusters it is hopeful can win the sector’s first health claim in the European Union.
Greater collaboration from both within the industry, and between industry and academics, will help to drive forward promising scientific developments in probiotics, according to experts at Probiotech and Microbiota 2013.
Core activity profit fell 30% in 2012 at Swedish probiotics supplier BioGaia – although a cash-rich, five-year licensing deal with Nestlé kept overall figures high even as that very deal simultaneously destroyed margins in its cultures business.
The probiotic and prebiotic sectors are tackling some serious issues around claim restrictions in the EU, but the global digestive health picture remains upbeat with yoghurts alone putting on $1.7bn this year, says Euromonitor analyst Diana Cowland in...
One of the EU’s most venerated food law experts stated the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR) has become so convoluted as to be unworkable, at a Brussels congress yesterday.
Italian food supplement manufacturers continue to make probiotic health claims under a “soft law” governmental decree, although the country’s stance could be challenged by EU organs, a lawyer said this morning at congress.
Most consumers know little to nothing about the EU health claim system, the European Food Safety Authority nor why a blanket ban has been imposed on probiotic marketing across the bloc, a functional food marketing expert told a conference this morning.
On a train to Brussels to cover NutraIngredients’ Probiotech and Microbiota two-day probiotic congress, had me wondering of the sector mood now it has had its claims ripped up by the EU’s hardline health claim process.
Danone has dispelled rumours that it is seeking to increase its stake in Yakult – declaring that it has no plans to mount a “hostile bid” for the Japanese company.
Spanish scientists have identified three bacterial strains that have ‘the potential to be used as probiotics in functional foods’ due to their ability to inhibit the growth of pathogenic strains like E. coli and Salmonella.
After years and even decades of healthy to rampant growth in the European Union, the probiotics sector has entered decline, with a flat economy and health claim ban seen as the likely culprits.
With rumors emerging that Danone is selling its 51% stake in its fruit juice JV with Chuiquita Brands International, one industry source told BeverageDaily.com that the French firm was likely ‘glad to be rid’ of a business blighted by mismanagement.
The European probiotic sector is bracing itself for tough times ahead in the wake of December’s EU health claim ban for the sector, but the effects are yet to be felt at Swedish supplier Probi which notched 6% sales growth in 2012.
Mutual recognition – the covenant that assumes what is good enough for one EU member state should be good enough for another – is a mislaid principle when it comes to EU food supplements law, a Brussels congress heard yesterday.
Lycopene, lutein, CoQ10, probiotics and any other nutrients rejected under the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR) could be banned in food supplements, a Swedish government official told a congress in Brussels this morning. But legal hounds...
Danish probiotics leader Chr Hansen, which ditched a €4m immunity trial for some of its probiotic strains last year, is participating in a new trial to determine if probiotics can reduce the number of infections in small children.
A new market analysis says the global probiotics market will surge by 6.8% a year for the next five years, driven by an Asia-Pacific, “expected to be the most prominent market in the future.”
Combining probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG supplements with aloe vera may slash cholesterol levels by over 40%, suggests a new study with lab rats.
Finnish dairy and probiotics firm Valio says EU health claim laws are forcing it to add approved vitamins and minerals to products like probiotics that have failed to win EU health claims.
Yakult has brushed aside claims by a number of former employees that its Argentinian business was dissolved as a result of poor management in recent years.
An article in ‘Nature’ magazine welcoming tough EU health claim laws has highlighted the conundrum facing EU regulators if the Union is to adopt different claim-substantiation criteria for about 2000 ‘on-hold’ botanical claims.
Tipton Mills claims to have launched the world’s first probiotic coffee, which uses a new probiotic developed by Ganeden Biotech, and says one serving contains 10 times as many cultures as a standard probiotic yogurt.
The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) has refuted accusations that probiotic researchers under-report negative or neutral results due to corporate interest.
German fragrance and flavours house Symrise has just last night inked a deal with Swedish probiotics firm Probi to develop a stand-alone R&D project with oral probiotic supplements the most likely product out of the pipeline in 2014-2015.
As attention turns to the enforcement of the EU’s controversial article 13, general function health claims list after a six month waiting period, an expert on the ground in Italy says the country’s policies will encourage law breaking.
