Emerging Non-Dairy Reservoirs of Probiotic Lactobacillus Species: A Review

Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria are considered to be probiotic organisms; they provide health benefits when consumed. They are gram-positive, acid-tolerant bacteria. Their utilization in industry is significantly quite high because of the various benefits and low pathogenicity level. They improve the nutritional value of the food, optimizes the lactose digestion, strengthen the immune system. They are used for the preparation of various fermented food worldwide, exemplarily curd, yoghurt, cheese, kimchi, sauerkraut, sausages and pickles. Out of various genera, Lactobacillus is the most well-known among the lactic acid bacteria because of their probiotic properties. It is the largest genus with more than 250 species. Lactobacilli are exploited commercially due to their characteristic probiotic properties. Thus, their isolation and characterization are essential tasks. The sources of isolation of the Lactobacillus can be dairy as well as non-dairy in origin. The dairy sources of isolation are milk and its products. The following article reviews the literature published concerning the isolation of Lactobacillus from non-dairy sources. The sources reviewed were soymilk production waste, fermented food, bees, humans and cows.