The announcement came after a meeting of the IPA Board of Directors (BoD) following the sold out IPA World Congress + Probiota in Barcelona last week, which attracted almost 500 stakeholders from across the biotics spectrum.
“We will continue our solid path of driving and upholding the probiotic category as we replicate our past achievements in these biotic categories,” wrote George Paraskevakos in a message to IPA members this week.
“To emulate the successes of the probiotic category, IPA BoD will start work on building the required frameworks and organizational structure for the expanded scope that will enable an intentional and fruitful future for the probiotics industry. It is a natural progression for the evolution of IPA, and we are delighted to announce this strategic focus.”
The organization is exploring a rebranding to cover these categories but no further information is available at this time.
The announcement is not a surprise to industry watchers after Paraskevakos hinted at such a move during an interview with NutraIngredients-USA at SupplySide West 2022.
“Because these categories so nicely complement the probiotics market, the BoD has spent many months optimizing a strategy to help the probiotics industry grow in response to market demands; this includes a scope expansion, intended to focus on the ‘biotics’,” added Paraskevakos in the member memo. “In no way will this impede our focused efforts regarding the probiotics category. In fact, it will only strengthen our ownership within these ‘biotic’ categories.”
New President & staff changes
IPA also announced that Dr Amy Smith has been elected Interim President following the departure of Kevin Mehring from IPA and Chr Hansen. Dr Smith has occupied several IPA roles, as committee chair and as vice-president of the BoD.
Commenting on the expanded scope, Dr Smith told NutraIngredients: “We are better together.”
Supporting the scope expansion, IPA announced that Meryl Massot will transition to a new role titled ‘Project Coordinator and Committee Support’. Ms Massot joined IPA last summer, and her new role will ensure the continuity of committee engagement and project planning.
Massot’s former role as Member and Events Coordinator will be filled by Ms. Kristina Paraskevakos, who has previously supported IPA on a part-time basis.