Ray A. Matulka
Director of Toxicology Burdock Group Consultants, USA

Foods and food ingredients are defined, in part, as substances that primarily provide “taste, aroma, or nutritive value” (1). As the study of food has advanced, it’s become increasingly apparent that food contains substances that in the past have not necessarily been considered nutrients by current regulatory bodies such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) or the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), but nonetheless have gained scientific recognition as having positive effects on the body. For example, the U.S. through the release of a proposed rule on new food labeling has stated that fiber provides a benefit “beyond basic nutritive value” (2). Probiotics, by their very definition, purport to be “live micro-organisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host” (3), although the European Commission’s (EC) European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has rejected almost all claims concerning probiotics that has been submitted to the agency on the grounds of insufficient scientific evidence to prove a cause-and-effect relationship between consumption of probiotic products and any health ...