Lallemand Human Nutrition, in partnership with the American Gastroenterological Association, announced a new edition of the “Probiotic Challenge,” a competition for students working on probiotic research. If selected by the AGA and a team of judges, winners can present their study at DDW2013 and win cash prizes.

Probiotic industry members, Valio, Danone, Yakult, Chr Hansen, DuPont-Danisco, Probi and Lallemand formed the Global Alliance for Probiotics (GAP) to collaborate on defining a path forward for health claims for probiotics in the European Union. Read Nutraingredients article.

FDA’s Center for Biologic Evaluation and Research (CBER) issued a finalized guidance for industry on when an Investigational New Drug (IND) application is required for human research on live biotherapuetic agents. The draft guidance on a similar topic issued by CBER and the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) October 2010 has not been finalized. This final guidance acknowledges that live microbes (probiotics) intended for use as foods or dietary supplements can be investigated with human studies without an IND. The new guidance falls short of acknowledging an IND-free research path for human studies on medical foods, foods for special dietary uses or to research a food Health Claim. Foods or dietary supplements being studied for drug purposes (cure, mitigate, treat, diagnose, or prevent disease) will require an IND.

U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP, a standards-setting organization since 1820) recently announced publication of a monograph, “Microbial Food Cultures Including Probiotics,” in Food Chemical Codex. General considerations for identification and enumeration, intended use in food, safety, regulatory status, and purity are discussed.

ISAPP submits comments to the FDA on the draft guidance on new dietary ingredient notifications. ISAPP comments are grounded in the overall principle that NDIN requirements should have a reasonable potential to add to the overall understanding of safety (or to the existing data base with respect to a risk) and, if that potential is very low, we recommend that FDA endorse the use of discretion to conclude that additional testing is unnecessary.

New book written for the generalist covers fundamental microbiological concepts of bacterial evolution and behavior and provides perspective on their constructive and destructive activities. Bacteria. The Benign, the Bad, and the Beautiful, by Trudy Wassenaar is now available from Wiley-Blackwell.

Jeffrey Gordon interview with National Public Radio about findings from a study on the impact of probiotic yogurt consumption on gut microbiota, microbiome expression and urinary metabolites [McNulty et al. ScienceTranslational Medicine, Vol 3(106)].

Public Comment is solicited for NIH Common Fund Initiatives by September 14th, 2011. One of the proposed projects, Microbiome, Part 2, includes probiotics. Potential impact of Common Fund investment: Systems biology-derived “designer” probiotics may offer an inexpensive, holistic approach to disease prevention and treatment, although much research is necessary to realize this potential. It should be noted that probiotics have been used for decades, but systematic analyses of their efficacy and safety have not been conducted.

Professor Seppo Salminen, University of Turku, Finland, announced the development of a website where a book covering Terminology for Functional Foods (including probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, health claims, sensory evaluation of foods, and molecular gastronomy) is available in English, Portuguese and Italian. Download for free.

ISAPP Past-President Gregor Reid traveled to Eastern Europe to attend the International Scientific Conference on Probiotics and Prebiotics in Kosice, Slovakia, as well as other events, and filed these personal reflections. Report.

Former ISAPP secretary, James Versolovic, authored an editorial for the latest edition of Probiotics Watch, a quarterly report sponsored by Danone Research that reviews recent scientific publications on probiotics.

Notice of registration deadline for FASEB Summer Research Conference “Probiotics, Intestinal Microbiota and the Host: Physiological and Clinical Implications”, Carefree Resort, Carefree, Arizona, USA. The conference will be held July 24-29, 2011. Early registration deadline is June 1, 2011.