Summary
This comprehensive review synthesises the scattered literature on postbiotics—preparations of inanimate microorganisms or their components conferring health benefits—examining production, delivery, and preservation technologies alongside the evolving regulatory landscape. The authors highlight critical translational bottlenecks: the absence of standardised potency assays, lack of cross-class quality benchmarks, and regulatory conflicts between heat-inactivated dairy postbiotics and live-culture standards. The review underscores that whilst postbiotics offer stability advantages over live probiotics for thermal processing and storage, harmonised international characterisation standards and regulatory frameworks are essential for advancing the field.
Regional applicability
The review addresses the United Kingdom indirectly through its coverage of European Union regulatory frameworks, which apply to UK trade and product development. However, UK-specific postbiotic regulation post-Brexit may diverge from EU standards; the identified need for harmonised international standards is particularly relevant to UK regulators establishing independent food safety guidance.
Key measures
Production methods (fermentation, non-thermal inactivation); delivery systems (spray-drying, microencapsulation, nanoencapsulation, active packaging); biopreservation efficacy in food matrices; regulatory status and requirements in the United States, European Union, Japan, and India.
Outcomes reported
The review synthesises evidence on postbiotic production technologies, delivery systems, and regulatory frameworks across major jurisdictions. It identifies standardisation gaps and translational bottlenecks limiting postbiotic functional food development.
Topic tags
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