Functional foods (also known as ' nutraceutical', 'super' or 'medicinal') are foods or isolated food ingredients that provide a positive physiological effect on consumers health beyond just basic nutritional value. Functional foods can come from various sources such as naturally derived, fortification, enrichment or just have functional ingredients.

Foods containing probiotics, are single or mixed culture of organisms that beneficially contribute by improving the microbial flora in the gut. Many probiotic foods are associated with dairy, especially here in Ireland. With this in mind people who are in need of probiotic inclusion in their diets to improve their gut health and deal with gastrointestinal disorders such as Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease may not be able to consume dairy as part of their diet, whether by choice such as veganism or as a matter of being lactose intolerant, allergic to dairy products or even if subject to a diet that requires them to consume a low cholesterol diet, as a consequence there is a niche for non-dairy probiotic products.

Some 10-15% of Europeans are believed to be lactose intolerant and parts of Africa and Asia as high as 80+% lactose intolerance levels where they would not be accustomed to dairy consumption.