摘要：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. Key words: lactic acid bacteria, probiotics, biosafety.
