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# Petition Seeks Change on Probiotic Quantitative Labeling
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/petition-seeks-change-on-probiotic-quantitative-labeling/
- Published: 2016-11-21T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T21:49:37.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5137389

The International Probiotics Association has petitioned FDA asking that it amend its regulations to require the quantitative amount of probiotic ingredients in a dietary supplement to be presented in terms of colony forming units (CFUs) instead of by weight. “The amendment to the regulations requested here would help ensure that consumers have the most useful, relevant information with respect to the amount of probiotic ingredients indietary supplements,” the [petition](https://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=FDA-2016-P-3968-0001&attachmentNumber=1&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf&ref=fdaweb.com) says. “For other dietary ingredients that are live microorganisms, the quantitative amount shall be presented in terms of the minimum number of CFUs per serving at the end of the product's shelf life,” it says.

The group says that information about the weight of probiotics in a dietary supplement is irrelevant with respect to determining the amount of live, active organisms in the product. “The weight of the ingredient does not indicate viability at all,” it says. “Due to various cell concentrations of the probiotics, the same number of milligrams could represent very different CFU counts. hence, declaring probiotic ingredients by weight does not provide consumers with relevant information on the amount of effective ingredient they are consuming in a dietary supplement.”