DEVELOPMENT OF CONSUMER PROBIOTICS FOR THE US MARKET

Curiosity about probiotic bacteria is high. This is not surprising giv en the rapid growth of the natural products market in the USA, which w as 22 % in 1995 (New Hope Natural Media, Boulder, CO). Although probio tic cultures are only one component of that market, this trend shows t hat consumers in the USA are increasingly taking a pro-active stance t owards their health and are purchasing products not only to eliminate what is perceived as dietary negatives but to increase the levels of d ietary positives (Wrick, 1995). This shift in consumer attitude bodes well for the development of the American probiotic market. This articl e describes the composition, promotion and labelling of probiotic-cont aining products, discusses attributes of commercial probiotic bacteria , and estimates the size of the probiotic market in the USA. This mark et information was obtained from several published (Anon, 1996a,b) and unpublished but commercially available (SPINS Information Services, S an Francisco, CA and New Hope Natural Media, Boulder, CO) sources.