Hong Kong consumer watchdog finds 2 of 40 probiotic products in review contain substances not recommended for humans
- Sixty per cent of reviewed products had no clear labelling about live bacteria they contained
- Only 15 samples had all strains of probiotics clearly printed on packaging, watchdog reveals
Two of 40 probiotic products reviewed by Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog were found to contain substances not recommended for humans and 60 per cent had no clear labelling about the live bacteria they contained.
The Consumer Council on Monday called on the government to come up with standards or legislation for dietary supplements to ensure probiotic products on the market were safe.
Probiotics are microorganisms which can be used to produce dietary supplements designed to be beneficial by improving gut microbiota.
Among the 40 products the council sourced from October to November last year were those from PicoLabb Formulas and Procalun.
They were labelled as containing Enterococcus faecalis – a type of bacteria not recommended for human consumption by a UN joint working group of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.
The council insisted the bacteria, as well as Enterococcus faecium, were “relatively unstable, easily contaminated or have the risk of turning into pathogens”.