Across the Nutra-Verse: Top news from around the world (April 1)

31-Mar-2019 - Last updated on 31-Mar-2019 at 20:36 GMT

It’s a global industry and there’s a lot happening. We know it’s not always easy keeping up with everything that’s happening around the world. The answer? Our weekly round-up of key news from across the globe.

USA

Probiotic experts calls for stricter compliance with definition

Renowned probiotic expert Dr Gregor Reid, Endowed Chair in Human Microbiome and Probiotics at the Lawson Health Research Institute in Canada, has called for stricter comply to the scientific definition of the term “probiotic” to help advance this important category.

Probiotics were defined by the FAO/WHO in 2001 as “Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host”.

A new paper that Dr Reid co-authored with Azza Gadir, director of R&D at Seed, and Raja Dhir, Seed’s co-founder and co-CEO, states: “[The FAO/WHO definition for ‘probiotic’] is now used globally, yet on a consistent basis scientists, media and industry misrepresent probiotics or make generalized statements that illustrate a misunderstanding of their utility and limitations.

The paper, published in Frontiers in Microbiology, continues: “[…] the term “probiotic” is often misapplied to describe any microbe with plausible therapeutic utility in the human host.

“It is argued that strict compliance to the scientific definition of the term “probiotic” and avoidance of generalizations to the whole field of probiotics based upon studies of one product, will help advance the development and validation of microbial therapies, and applications to improve human health.”

For more on this, please click HERE.

Europe

Germany to drive Europe’s emerging CBD market

The European market for (cannabidiol) CBD was estimated at €282m ($318m) in 2018, and is expected to grow by an eye-watering 400% to 2023, according to the Brightfield Group.

And Germany is predicted to lead the region, according to an article on NutraIngredients-Europe.

Bethany Gomez, Brightfield’s managing director, said: “CBD is just starting to take hold in Europe, with both product availability and consumer awareness still quite limited.

“This is a great opportunity for developed brands to enter and expand through Europe with far less competition than we're seeing in the US.”

Asia

FSSAI considers separate classification within food supplements regime

The Food Safety and Standards Association of India (FSSAI) has announced a collaboration with the Ministry of Ayush on possible standards for traditional ayurvedic foods (ayurvedic ahaar) as a separate category.

“We are in discussions with the Ministry of Ayush to explore various possibilities, and are looking at whether there can be standards for ayurvedic ahaar as a separate category in the food supplements regulatory framework,” said CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal at a recent event organized by the Chamber of Indian Industry (CII).

“These standards could either be part of food supplements and nutraceutical regulations or we could look at having a separate set of regulations for ayurvedic ahaar.”

“The decision of making it a separate category or keeping it in the existing food supplement regulations will be taken up at appropriate time,” he added.

For more on this story, please click HERE.