Emerging issues in probiotic safety: 2023 perspectives (15 March 2023)

Summary

Probiotics are used for both generally healthy consumers and in clinical settings, but there have been adverse events as a result of their consumption. Concise and actionable recommendations on how to use probiotics safely and effectively are therefore needed, especially as increasing numbers of new strains and products come to market, and probiotic use increases in vulnerable populations.

The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics convened a meeting to discuss and produce evidence-based recommendations on potential acute and long-term risks, risks to vulnerable populations, the importance for probiotic product quality to match the needs of vulnerable populations and the need for adverse event reporting related to probiotic use. This paper presents these recommendations to guide the scientific and medical community on judging probiotic safety.