The International Probiotics Association has formally opened registration for the 4th IPA World Congress. The biennial global event will be held in Athens, Greece on May 9-11, 2014 and will be co-hosted by the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Foods. Prospective attendees are encouraged to visit the website and register at www.ipaworldcongress.com.

For the first time, the three-day event will feature sessions providing highly focused content on all facets of the probiotic industry. Attendees may choose among sessions that will focus on science, marketing, product development or clinical research. In addition, regulatory sessions will feature speakers from EFSA, who have accepted invitations to help further the dialogue in regards to guidance of probiotics in Europe.

The IPA World Congress will be the first global probiotic meeting featured in a supplemental issue of an indexed journal, Beneficial Microbes, which will publish the top-quality scientific abstracts presented during the poster session of the conference.

Additionally, IPA will be providing special travel grants for students coming from low-income countries.

“This is truly a grand and exciting event for the International Probiotics Association and probiotic industry in general,” said Director General Ioannis Misopoulos. “Not only do we feature top researchers discussing the hottest topics regarding probiotics, but we are also very proud to feature speakers from EFSA at this World Congress, which is a testament to International Probiotics Association’s continuous efforts to work with regulatory bodies from all over the world.”

Attendance is expected to double from the previous World Congress with this debut on European soil. “It’s not a coincidence that the 2014 World Congress is being held in Greece, a country not only rich in history and beauty, but also the origin of one of the fastest growing categories of yogurts in the world, which also happens to be one of the original delivery systems for probiotics.”

With such a wide array of educational sessions that are offered nowhere else, and the unique opportunity to network with people from around the globe, the IPA World Congress has truly become a can’t miss event. “We expect registration to fill up quickly, and encourage those who plan to attend to register as soon as possible,” noted the Director General.