Guidelines for the Evaluation of Probiotics in Food: Joint FAO/WHO Working Group meeting, London Ontario, Canada, 30 April-1 May 2002

Introduction

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Evaluation of Health and Nutritional Properties of Probiotics in Food held in Córdoba, Argentina from 1-4 October, 2001 recognized that there was a need for guidelines to set out a systematic approach for the evaluation of probiotics in food leading to the substantiation of health claims. Consequently, a Working Group was convened by FAO/WHO to generate guidelines and recommend criteria and methodology for the evaluation of probiotics, and to identify and define what data need to be available to accurately substantiate health claims. The aims of the Working Group were to identify and outline the minimum requirements needed for probiotic status and draft guidelines to meet this objective.