ABSTRACT
The concept of probiotics is now widely used in industrial and scientific fields due to its health benefits. There are several molecular techniques for identification of LAB isolates, but every technique cannot be used for all purposes. For safety assessments, the detailed fingerprint of individual isolates is important by using several techniques on the strain level. For species-level identification, biochemical technique or 16S rDNA sequencing or DNA–DNA hybridization is used. DGGE is used for a rapid microbial analysis of complex bacterial communities in fermented milk foods, but for routine analyses of LAB in food samples novel techniques are needed. Although clinical trials have been for probiotic efficiency, yet novel research on GI-tract diagnostics and immunology, biomarkers, and functionality is needed for human studies. While developing probiotic products in food, its viability and survivability is an important parameter, and this can be achieved by using microencapsulation and cell immobilization. Thus, probiotics can be used as a viable ingredient of our daily foods, and probiotics can be applied beyond the pharmaceutical and supplement uses.
