Probi USA Inc.
9609 153rd Ave. N.E.
Redmond WA 98052
Phone: (425) 883-9518
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.probi.com

Within the Care and Wellness Division of Symrise, Probi is a global company focused exclusively on developing, producing and delivering clinically proven biotic solutions. Founded in 1991 at Lund University in Sweden, Probi now operates in more than 40 markets and holds more than 350 global patents.

Bryan Gray is a B2B marketing leader specializing in commercial strategy and demand generation in the food, nutrition and dietary supplements industry. As senior marketing manager: Americas for Probi, he develops and executes the strategic marketing plans that drive growth for their ingredient platforms, owning sales enablement, customer content, trade show strategy, digital campaigns and innovation pipeline support. His background spans over a decade at New Hope Network (Informa Markets), where he progressed to marketing director, data and e-commerce, leading marketing and brand strategy for titles including Nutrition Business Journal and Nutrition Capital Network, building a customer data platform, and managing demand generation and go-to-market strategy across nine B2B products. He began his career in CPG brand management at Ciao Bella Gelato, leading trade marketing and B2C strategy. Gray remains dedicated to translating data and clinical science into commercial growth strategies for better-for-you brands.

NIE: Probi is celebrating 35 years in 2026, what are some of the company’s plans moving forward?

Gray: As Probi celebrates three and a half decades in 2026, the company is using the milestone to look forward rather than back. Its strategy for sustainable, profitable growth rests on four pillars: sharper commercial execution and customer centricity, continued leadership in science and innovation, quality and supply chain excellence, and a people-first organization built around a shared purpose. In practice, that means deepening the integration with parent company Symrise, whose R&D resources, global reach and complementary expertise in taste and functional ingredients are already accelerating innovation cycles. Many new biotic developments are in the innovation pipeline, with new delivery formats emerging in food, beverage, supplements and pet health. Probi’s CEO Anita Johansen (now global vice president innovation, Symrise Care & Wellness) has described 2026 as one of expanding market access and shared innovation pipelines, with the company exploring new product categories and emerging markets while continuing to invest in its strain discovery pipeline for future portfolio growth.

NIE: The company hit the milestone of reaching >300 scientific publications supporting the benefits of Lactiplantibacillus. plantarum 299v (LP299V). Talk about some of the LP299V studies.

Gray: Recent studies have moved well beyond LP299V’s foundational gut health data into cardiometabolic territory, including work published in Circulation Research and Scientific Reports showing improved vascular endothelial function and reduced systemic inflammation in subjects. On the pediatric side, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial published in the Journal of Pediatrics demonstrated that LP299V reduces antibiotic-associated gastrointestinal symptoms in children, reinforcing the strain’s safety and efficacy profile from six months of age onward.

The strain’s role in iron absorption and women’s health has also gained fresh visibility, with the LP299V-plus-iron solution winning the NutraIngredients Award for Innovation in Women’s Health across Europe, the U.S., and Asia. More recently, a 2024 study published in Food & Function extended LP299V’s reach into metabolic health, showing beneficial effects on adipocytokines and appetite-regulating hormones in obese women, a novel data point that positions the strain beyond its traditional gut health territory and into the growing conversation around weight management and metabolic wellness.

NIE: After acquiring Probi in 2025, Symrise AG established the Care & Wellness Division. How has the new division changed the company’s approach from category-based offerings to a connected care approach?

Gray: The formation of the Care & Wellness Division represents a genuine shift in how Symrise organizes and delivers its health and beauty portfolio. Rather than offering health actives, biotics and cosmetic ingredients as separate, siloed categories, the division now operates through a connected system built on three layers. Integrated Science serves as the engine, drawing on biotechnology, biotics, naturals and green chemistry. Connected Care is the system that ties together ingestible, topical, and combined “in and out” solutions, so brands can address a person’s full range of daily care moments rather than a single use case. Living Experience is the lens through which that science becomes a felt, sensory outcome, whether that’s texture, flavor or comfort. Probi and Health Active Solutions now sit together as business units under this single division, which opens the door to cross-portfolio storytelling that wasn’t possible when each ingredient was discussed in isolation.

NIE: Sustainability seems important to the company. Talk about some of Probi’s sustainability efforts.

Gray: Probi has already exceeded its 2030 climate target five years early and continues reducing emissions alongside our growth. Progress on sustainability is key to the company’s strategy and recent highlights of these efforts include:

• Cut total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by roughly 62 percent since 2019, exceeding its Science Based Targets initiative goal five years ahead of the 2030 deadline.

• Shifted both U.S. manufacturing sites and the Lund headquarters to 100 percent renewable electricity, driving a roughly 75 percent reduction in Scope 2 emissions versus 2024.

• Improved energy efficiency at the Redmond facility through the ISOP+ program, cutting electricity use by 13.9 percent and natural gas use by 5.7 percent year over year.

• Achieved FSSC 22000 certification at the Washington facility and NSF GRMA certification at the Colorado facility, reinforcing quality and food safety standards across U.S. operations.

• Brought a new quality laboratory online at the Colorado facility, speeding up testing while eliminating the need to ship samples externally.

• Retained an EcoVadis Bronze rating with improved scores in Environment, Labor & Human Rights and Ethics.