Quality control of probiotic beverages and organisms

The growing quest for a healthy lifestyle among humans has led to active search for healthier alternatives for the prevention or treatment of infectious diseases. Probiotics are an important groups of microorganisms that have been used to stimulate a healthy balance of gastrointestinal tract (GI) bacteria, thus promoting a wide range of health benefits, such as weight loss, digestive health, reduction of metabolic disorders, and boosting of immune functions. Such probiotic microorganisms/strains are used for the development of probiotic beverages. However, in a rapidly growing commercial probiotics market, consumers often encounter challenges in distinguishing between good-quality and poor-quality probiotic products. This difficulty threatens the trust end-users and healthcare providers have in probiotic products. In order to address this problem, proper quality control (QC) of probiotic organisms and subsequent beverages is all-important. This chapter therefore describes the importance of QC in the selection of microorganism strains for use as probiotics and the various criteria to ensure viability and reliability of the probiotic strains/products towards boosting consumer's trust and acceptance of probiotic beverages.