ISAPP’s president, Dr. Gregor Reid, named as inaugural chair in Human Microbiology and Probiotics at Lawson Health Research Institute, made possible by a $7 million investment by Danone Research. Press release.

Norwegian Food Safety Authority recommends against use of probiotics in critically ill patients. Download opinion.

Health Canada Food Directorate issues “Guidance Document – The Use of Probiotic Microorganisms in Food” along with along with a “Notice to Stakeholders.” Referring to foods containing probiotics, these documents indicate that Health Canada will allow certain generic claims that do not require strain- or product-specific substantiation.

Physiological and Functional Properties of Probiotics published as a bulletin of the International Dairy Federation, authored by Mercenier, Wijnkoop-Lenoir and Sanders (2008). Reprint.

The National Institutes of Health conference on Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Advances in Prebiotic and Probiotic Research was held December 11-12, 2007.

Publication of paper reporting increased mortality in study of six-strain blend of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium on infectious complications in patients with severe pancreatitis. ISAPP reacts. Earlier ISAPP response to the pre-publication press release can be found here.

Free webinar on “Probiotics and their Role in Gut Health” sponsored by “Natural Products Insider.” Robert Hutkins, Ph.D., Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska will present.

Qualified Presumption of Safety: The European Food Safety Authority just issued report describing an opinion on the QPS approach to safety of microorganisms used in foods. “Introduction of a Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) approach for assessment of selected microorganisms referred to EFSA – Opinion of the Scientific Committee.” See: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1178667590178.htm

Announcing the publication of an issue paper sponsored by CAST (Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, www.cast-science.org) which comprehensively covers the field of probiotics. Authored by four members of the ISAPP board of directors (Drs. Sanders, Gibson, Gill and Guarner), this paper was written with a lay audience as at target. Announcement.
Click here to download this article for free.

A Probiotic Council within the National Yogurt Association (www.aboutyogurt.com) has been established. This council is intended to be the voice of industry as it relates to standards
and regulatory issues for probiotics, at least as they related to dairy foods. This is an important development because it leverages the significant resources and expertise in regulatory affairs of the NYA trade association to promote appropriate standards for probiotics in the US. Press release.

A non-commercial, educational DVD produced by ISAPP President Dr. Gregor Reid and Danone (Paris, France) which illustrates how probiotics function in vivo is available now in 12 languages. See press
release

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), an NIH funding agency, forms Product Quality Working Group to assess quality of natural substances, including probiotics and prebiotics, that are subjects of research.