NGS-based Microbial Testing for Probiotics Products: Guidelines Development and Laboratory Capacity Building - Final Summary Report

The probiotic market continues to grow exponentially and has increased the challenges in lab testing particularly for quality assurance and safety. Next Generation Sequencing or NGS, is a tool that has emerged as an intriguing option for addressing some of the technical challenges that are associated with various culturing methods. However, the adoption of NGS in probiotics testing remains low among APEC economies. Additionally, the absence of standardized testing protocols has resulted in significant variations in test results. To address these issues, an expert committee has been established to discuss and find solutions. This report discussed the findings of survey and focus group discussions, summarizes the workshop presentations and shared other outputs gained from this project, SCSC 04 2021. At the end of the report, the expert committee has also made recommendations based on the best practices of NGS adoption from the economies and the considerations in setting up the NGS facilities in the future.