CRN Unveils Retailer Education Campaign on Probiotics

—New initiative helps retail buyers better curate their offerings; improves retailer handling of probiotics; educates customers about the benefits of probiotics—

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry, today unveiled a retailer education campaign, “Probiotics: What’s Inside is Alive.”

The new initiative, which educates retail buyers and customers about the intricacies of these living organisms, helps retail buyers better curate their offerings, improves retailer handling of probiotics, and informs customers about the benefits of these products.

”Probiotics supply a wide variety of health benefits,” said Jeremy Bartos, Ph.D., chair of CRN’s Probiotics Working Group (PWG) and senior vice president of research and development at MeriCal. “Emerging science is revealing how different probiotic species and strains perform unique biological activities that affect different systems in the body, including digestive, cognitive, immune, and cardiovascular, among others.”

CRN developed the campaign in collaboration with its PWG to help retail buyers not only understand the differences between probiotic products offered in their stores but also to show retailers how to purchase high-quality probiotics from responsible manufacturers. The education program provides information about how these live organisms require different labeling practices, have unique storage and handling requirements, and how they offer a variety of health benefits to consumers.

Initial assets include the “Retail Buyer’s Guide to Probiotics,” along with an educational infographic and video specially designed for retail buyers. The buyer’s guide provides information about labeling probiotic identity, quantity, and viability; best practices for storage and handling; and various benefits of probiotics, consumer usage data, and other need-to-know information. The educational infographic and video summarize aspects of the buyer’s guide to help retail buyers understand at a glance how probiotics are different from other dietary supplements and how to make smart choices about which products to offer their customers.

“CRN is an industry leader for advancing education around dietary supplements,” said Andrea Wong, Ph.D., senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at CRN. “As these live organisms continue to grow in popularity, CRN will expand educational resources for the retail community to ensure consumers have access to high quality and beneficial probiotics.”

To learn more about the campaign and access the buyer’s guide and all other campaign assets, visit www.crnusa.org/probiotics.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), founded in 1973, is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing 180+ dietary supplement and functional food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and companies providing services to those manufacturers and suppliers. In addition to complying with a host of federal and state regulations governing dietary supplements and food in the areas of manufacturing, marketing, quality control and safety, our manufacturer and supplier members also agree to adhere to additional voluntary guidelines as well as to CRN’s Code of Ethics. Visit www.crnusa.org. Follow us on Twitter @CRN_Supplements and LinkedIn.