He said: "It's been an issue for some time that general health claims are made about these products using the family name for the active ingredient and not saying which member of the family is in the pot.

"We expect the claims that will come now from the companies will be much more specific."

A Yakult spokesman said: "Yakult has submitted claims for Lactobacillus casei Shirota, a well characterised probiotic strain unique to Yakult.

"Evidence for its health benefit is based on over 70 human studies and over 70 years of research.

"Opinions on claims submitted for this strain are not expected until 2010."

Very very interesting methinks

That should have been the rule all along.