Microbiome science is rapidly evolving, expanding beyond traditional probiotics and prebiotics to include synbiotics, postbiotics, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), bacteriophages, and next-generation probiotics. This award celebrates the most innovative ingredients designed to modulate the microbiome in ways that support health, resilience, and overall wellbeing.

Today’s leading ingredients go beyond isolated strains to nourish the full microbial ecosystem—leveraging novel fibres, metabolite-rich compounds, and multi-strain synergies to promote diversity, stability, and functionality across the gut, skin, and other microbiome niches.

This award celebrates ingredients that are pushing the boundaries of microbiome modulation—combining rigorous science with real-world impact.

Our Judges will look at how your ingredient meets specific needs and will base their scores on your evidence to demonstrate:

• A genuine consumer demand or requirement based upon a common issue or risk factor
• Solid scientific evidence to demonstrate a unique nutritional solution to this need or problem – including peer reviewed data to back up any performance or health claims made
• Commercial success and engagement from your core target market(s). Give numbers and examples of sales and applications that are available in the market
  
• What gives your ingredient the ‘X factor’ – something that makes it stand out from the crowd and edge out the competition (including evidence to back up claims)

To view the requirements for this category, click to download

Entries for The NutraIngredients Europe Awards, Ingredient of the Year categories are required to have the ingredient in a finished product that is commercially available in Europe.

JUDGING PROCESS: 

• Entries will be received and reviewed by the NutraIngredients Europe Awards Judging Panel made up of independent judges from the industry.
• Our 2026 finalists will be confirmed and notified in end of March 2026.
• Our 2026 winners will be announced during an awards' presentation in Barcelona on Wednesday May 6, 2026.