Tradition and change are often challenging, whether in habits or mindset, but both are essential for evolution. Resisting change may clash with forward-thinking initiatives, where the central question always seems to be whether change is always beneficial or if tradition holds necessary value. In my humble opinion, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
The International Probiotics Association (IPA) has long stood as a beacon of excellence and advocacy in the world of probiotics. Since the association’s inception in 1999, we have always dedicated ourselves to advancing probiotics science, promoting industry collaboration and aligning regulatory stakeholders to ultimately ensure that consumers have access to high-quality probiotics.
As the global leader in the probiotics field, the IPA has cultivated a legacy of trust, credibility and impact. Over the past year, the association has embarked on a transformative strategic shift, setting the stage for a future characterized by broader influence, enhanced engagement and innovative solutions to the evolving challenges within the biotics field.
The foundation and legacy of the IPA
Our foundation and legacy emerged at a time when probiotics were gaining recognition as a cornerstone of health and wellness. The association’s founding members envisioned a global organization that would bring together industry leaders, scientists and regulators to drive innovation and advocacy, ensuring probiotic product integrity, ultimately benefiting consumers.
IPA has built its reputation as an authoritative voice balancing industry needs with scientific credibility and public trust. This has been achieved through our various initiatives over the last 25 years. Hosting international conferences and workshops, publishing guidances and collaborating with stakeholders to address challenges with regulatory divergence, labeling standards and manufacturing and technical validation, underline some of the areas of IPA’s expertise.
Adapting to a changing landscape
Probiotics have evolved significantly in recent years. Consumer demand for probiotics continues to surge, fueled by increasing awareness of gut health, personalized nutrition and holistic wellness. Similarly, advances in microbiome science and technology have opened new frontiers for innovation, including next-generation probiotics, targeted health applications and microbiome diagnostics.
These opportunities also come with their own challenges. Enter prebiotics and postbiotics into the discussion. Regulatory frameworks remain fragmented across regions, making it difficult for industry to navigate compliance. Misinformation and overhyped claims in the marketplace threaten to undermine consumer trust. Furthermore, competition within the global health and wellness sector is fiercer than ever, requiring industry players to adopt innovative strategies to maintain their edge.
Recognizing the need to evolve alongside the industry we will now be serving—a year on after embarking on our strategic shift, IPA has been diligently working to ensure continued relevance and leadership. Our newly formed committees for prebiotics, postbiotics, infant supplements and companion animals started work on publishing, as we did for probiotics, relevant guidances, best practices and documents for these new segments.
This transformation was a deliberate and forward-thinking decision, driven by strategic planning rather than a mere response to external changes. It has redefined IPA’s mission and will amplify its impact and enhance its value proposition but more importantly continue to forge our leadership role in the biotics world.
A new strategic direction
At the heart of the IPA’s strategic shift is a commitment to continue building on our Strategic Goals from 2024. This will support our broadened scope, enhance member value and continue to drive IPA’s thought leadership.
The key areas outlined as goals in 2024 that will continue to be supported in 2025 include:
- Expanding geographical representation:
- The IPA board voted in favor of an IPA China representative and office.
- IPA will continue its work and outreach globally with association partners in key geographical regions through our affiliate MOUs.
- Supporting the new biotics categories within our legacy committees:
- Scoping exercises in definition alignment for prebiotic and postbiotic definitions are underway, as are manuscripts in these relative areas.
- The infant supplement sector will also be served with two dedicated task forces actively developing best practice and technical guidance documents ensuring the safety and efficacy of biotic products for infants.
- Established task forces in the companion animal space will focus on key areas for U.S. and EU regulatory frameworks, emerging technologies and addressing industry challenges within this segment.
- Educating healthcare practitioners:
- Coupled with the expanded probiotic university courses we announced and delivered globally, 2025 will see an expanded focus and outreach to the HCP’s segment.
- Some important initiatives will be to continue ‘educating the educators’ and provide and increase understanding of biotics and their applications for this cohort.
- Finally, the launch of a dedicated HCP website is also planned.
- Continue to drive global regulatory alignment:
- As a leader in regulatory outreach and advocacy, IPA will continue to advocate for a harmonized solution in probiotic regulations.
- Planned workshops are underway in the United States, Brazil, Australia, Canada and Belgium.
- The Codex initiative will undergo a review as the FAO and WHO have agreed to revisit their 25-year-old guidelines for probiotics.
- Advance innovation through technological and quality best practices:
- The IPA manufacturing guidelines, now a normative reference in GMPs and GFSI harmonized guidelines, will continue to evolve and look at the next phases of distribution channels.
- The ISO work continues as we are at the center of the work to establish an ISO standard for probiotic supplement enumeration.
- New technologies for enumeration and identification will be continued as will establishing new task forces to look at items such as microbiome test kits.
Looking ahead
As the probiotics industry continues to grow and evolve, IPA will continue to lead the charge. With our long-standing history and unique focus in probiotics, we will build off this tradition.
This rich history of advocacy and innovation will help build and provide a strong foundation for our evolving and ambitious future. IPA’s new strategic direction ensures that it remains at the forefront of scientific discovery, regulatory advocacy and industry collaboration. As I mentioned earlier, by balancing honoring our traditions and embracing change, the International Probiotics Association will continue to be a global leader in the biotic segments.
Moving forward, IPA will remain committed to our new mission: “To advocate for the safe and efficacious use of pre-, pro-, and post – biotics worldwide”, benefiting all stakeholders involved.
