I probiotics are live and vital microorganisms that confer health benefits to the host when consumed in adequate amounts, as part of a food or supplement. The definition of probiotics is contained in the 2001 FAO/WHO document.
The peculiar origin of this definition is a commercial dispute, recalls Lorenzo Morelli, one of the leading experts on probiotics and, among other things, dean of the faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences and director of the Institute of Microbiology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Piacenza.
"Brazil had blocked the import of probiotics from Argentina, and Argentina had turned to the World Trade Organization, WTO, invoking the principle of free circulation of goods and requesting a clear definition of probiotics, which arrived with the FAO-WHO document," says the professor, co-author of the text, also cited by the Italian Ministry of Health.
