Evaluation of Probiotic Properties of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Kimchi Produced in Iran

Probiotics refers to a group of microorganisms, which when exist in an appropriate amount in the gastrointestinal tract can have beneficial effects on host. Due to their duced consumption of traditional fermented food, where by the possibility of loss of many probiotic strains exist, isolation and identification of these bacteria from traditional and healthful food products seem necessary. Kimchi is a fermented food, which seems to have probiotic strains. In this study, the probiotic potential of strains isolated from kimchi was investigated. To determine the probiotic properties of the mentioned strains, confirmatory tests, including resistance to acid (pH= 2, 3, and 7), resistance to bile salts (percentage, 0, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0), antibacterial activity, and finally resistance of the studied strains to some common antibiotics were performed. In this study, out of 55 tested isolates, Pediococcus and Lactobacillus showed good probiotic properties, so that maximum probiotic potential belonged to Lactobacillus plantarum strain PD412 and Pediococcus pentosaceus strain ATCC 25745. In this study, safety aspects of using these bacteria, in terms of resistance to antibiotics, indicated that these two bacteria have natural resistance to antibiotics. Therefore, considering high probiotic potential of lactic acid bacteria isolated from kimchi, it is recommended that this food be used as a probiotic supplement.