Study of microbiological safety of probiotics

Abstract

Background. In modern global market food safety develops not only in national food safety control frame. Each novel food needs individual approach to food safety analysis along ingredients nature and origin, along with final product physiological effects. One of those foods is eubiotics – probiotic and synbiotics. Uniformity and completeness of food hazards information needs special attention for probiotics and prebiotics. In practice it is mean attention to specification and product description content for food chain traceability.
Discussion. In the EU and USA there are systems that simplify control and management of food hazards due to confirmation of any adverse effects absence of food ingredients if these was produced with good practices. In the USA there is GRAS system, in the EU there is QPS. GRAS confirmation of probiotics approvement accomplishes with official notification, short science report and inclusion in GRAS database of specified strains. EFSA published scientific opinion about QPS-recommended biological agents for food and feed. It was only species not strains are included in this opinion. In this opinion there is information about identification of species but not about chemical and biological hazards of starter cultures. But other important for analysis information will differ from different manufecturers.
Conclusion. Probiotics’ hazards analysis is complicated by absence of technical requirements and sanitary norms. In this connection primary attention must be paid to ferment and specifications completeness with biological and chemical safety features and results of medical and biological prove testing for probiotics adverse effect absence on consumer’s health.