Establishment of the PROSAFE collection of probiotic and human lactic acid bacteria

Abstract

Within the framework of the EU-funded research project PROSAFE - Biosafety evaluation of lactic acid bacteria used for human consumption - we aimed to establish a relevant collection of probiotic and human LAB. The collection comprises a total of 907 strains including 320 nutritional isolates (most of which have probiotic claims) and 580 human isolates from sterile (n = 339) or faecal (n = 241) sites. The strains were received as belonging to the genera Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Enterococcus, Pediococcus, Lactococcus, Propionibacterium and Streptococcus. Depositors of strains were the PROSAFE partners (http://lmg.ugent.belprosafe), PROEUHEALTH partners (http://proeuhealth.vtt.fi/), authors of relevant peer-reviewed papers, companies involved in the production and/or distribution of probiotics, public culture collections (BCCM/LMG and CCUG) and contacted researchers of private collections. The (commercial) probiotic strains submitted by the companies mainly belong to the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. About half of these strains are of human origin, were isolated in the 1990s and are marketed for human consumption.