The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry, recently announced an upcoming education initiative to provide retailers with knowledge about the intricacies of probiotic products, with the goal of helping them ensure that only high-quality probiotics reach their shelves.
 
A “Retail Buyer’s Guide to Probiotics” will feature prominently in the campaign alongside materials on labeling, storage and handling practices, the importance of strain identification, various benefits associated with probiotics, consumer usage, and other must-know information. The initiative will also seek to reach retail dietitians, pharmacists, sales associates, and other stakeholders involved in probiotics to help them curate their products, improve the way they handle these products, and better educate their customers on benefits associated with them.
 
“Unlike other dietary supplement ingredients, probiotics are live organisms that require different labeling and storage handling practices,” Andrea Wong, PhD, senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at CRN, said. “Given the popularity of these products, the expanding product innovation, and the growing body of scientific research showing the benefits of this category, CRN recognizes that it’s more important than ever for retailers to be better informed about probiotics. In particular, it’s essential that retail buyers understand the particularities of probiotics because they serve as gatekeepers for what ends up on the shelf, and for disseminating critical information to safeguard the reputation of their stores and benefit the health of their customers.”
 
Additionally, the Retail Buyer’s Guide will include data on probiotic sales and consumer usage to further help buyers make more informed decisions about the types of probiotics to stock in order to meet the growing consumer demand. The initiative will also help to ensure that the live organisms in the products remain viable through the product’s expiration date, and give retailers a working knowledge of the unique bioactivity of different products.
 
“Probiotics are unique dietary ingredients that play a role in health and are supported by a long history of safe use and scientific research,” Wong said. “Some probiotic products contribute to maintaining digestive health, and developing science shows the benefits certain probiotics have on immune function, brain health, oral health, or bone health. Given the growing science around probiotics and the increasing consumer interest in these products, this category is likely to grow in the coming years. CRN is working to ensure that retailers have the information they need to serve their customers.”
 
CRN said that they will beta test and finalize the Retail Buyer’s Guide by the end of this year. Additional deliverable items including an infographic and educational video are slated for 2021.