UniStraw, Ganeden Develop Probiotic Straw

After developing a concept for probiotic-enriched drinking straws in 2008, UniStraw International Ltd. (Chippendale, Australia) now says it will use the probiotic strain GanedenBC30 for its innovative product. GanedenBC30 is a strain of Bacillus coagulans pioneered by Ganeden Biotech Inc. (Cleveland).

The probiotic straw delivers friendly bacteria by housing them as “unibeads” inside of the straw. The probiotic achieves further innovation in that it does not require a refrigerated supply chain, unlike many probiotic products.

UniStraw expects to market its probiotic-enriched drinking straw as a stand-alone straw and as an integrated product on aseptic beverage cartons by the second quarter of 2012.

Update: On December 15, Ganeden Biotech reported that the global food packaging company Tetra Pak has signed a supply agreement with UniStraw for its on-pack straw system. Tetra Pak will use the system on its Tetra Brik Aseptic portion pack drink cartons.