The revamped site will present information about research efforts in the probiotic area; new projects and initiatives undertaken by the IPA and its members.

It is part of a move by the 10-year-old group to raise its profile globally and comes at a time when some regulators and agencies have been raising questions about probiotic marketing, even as probiotic sales continue to grow in most global markets.

The head of the IPA’s marketing committee, George Paraskevakos, said the IPA wanted the IPA website to be the “one-stop-shop” for both industry and consumers, and dismissed suggestions there needed to be a new industry-backed site to perform such a task.

Its profile-raising activities include an annual IPA conference, sponsoring events such as a recent probiotics conference hosted by the New York Academy of Sciences, and working more closely with regulators. It is also involved of a probiotic documentary due for completion this year.

Paraskevakos said the site aimed to do exactly what Henry Dixon, the owner of UK-based food industry PR firm, Barrett Dixon Bell, suggested in a recent NutraIngredients health claims round-table.