**5. Application of probiotics**

Due to the health benefits exerted by probiotic organisms, they have a wide range of applications in clinical uses and various industries such as food industries and agriculture industries. Most species of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria are used commercially. Among them *L. rhamnosus, L. plantarum, L. casei, L.paracasei, B. animalis* are widely used. With that in some products organism such as *S. thermophilus* is used.

## **5.1 Application of probiotics in the food industry**

Increasing knowledge of probiotic benefits leads to the development of functional foods. Functional foods, also known as "nutraceuticals" or "designer foods," are ingredients that offer health benefits that extend beyond their nutritional value. Some types contain supplements or other additional ingredients designed to improve health, and they are slowly emerging as 'health food' on supermarket shelves worldwide [70]. A wide variety of dairy products such as milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, chocolate mousse, quark, etc., include probiotic organisms to improve their nutrition characteristics [70–74]. Furthermore, whey-based and fortified dairy beverages are also available, including probiotic and *pre*biotic. *L. rhamnosus* GG is widely used in such beverages [75, 76]. The development of nondairy-based products has gained attention in developed countries as a population


**Table 2.** *List of probiotic food products.*

#### *Probiotic: An Uprising Human Health Concept DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98828*

with vegetarianism and lactose intolerance is higher [77]. Non-dairy based product includes fermented vegetable and fruit-based probiotics. Other non-dairy products such as cereal, soy, and meat-based probiotics such as fermented oats, sourdoughs, sausages, fish are available [78]. Probiotic organisms and substances secreted by them are used to preserve and enhance the quality of food. Various probiotic food products are listed in **Table 2**.
