Investigation and analysis of foods with microbial food cultures added in Beijing City market in 2018

OBJECTIVE: To understand the various types of food products with microbial food cultures(MFC)added in China's market. METHODS: The information of various types of food products with MFC added were collected and recorded from large and medium-sized supermarkets, convenience stores, and also by logging into China's main online shopping platform. The information of categories and labels of food products with MFC added was encoded and de-weighted. The information of corresponding categories were analyzed according to the category of national food safety standard of food products, the distribution of sample categories, frequencies of use of MFC and labeling information were calculated and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 565 samples were selected, including beverages, fermented milk, infant formula, candy, etc. The MFC with higher frequency of use mainly include Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium animalis, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, etc. The MFC were mainly indicated by the name of species and the name of strains in labels. 56. 5% of the samples(including thermo treated products) were described using "probiotics" in their labeling and promotion. CONCLUSION: The labels of the name of MFC as well as the type of the products(thermo treated or none) are inconsistent, and the uses of the concept of "probiotics" in some products are debatable.