Probiotic products are representatives of functional food, which constitutes a dynamically growing segment of the food market. Functional food is defined as all the products that demonstrate beneficial effects on human health surpassing that resulting only from the presence of nutrients traditionally recognized as essential. Probiotics are selected microorganisms that are also called bioactive compounds of food products. Up until the present, the major branch of the food industry in which probiotics have been applied is the milk industry. The most typical active components of probiotic products are lactic acid bacteria, particularly Lactobacillus species, and bifidobacteria. Health claims of probiotics are numerous, but include maintenance of healthy intestinal flora (e.g. as a result of their competition for the nutrients and/or the production of antimicrobials inhibiting the growth of undesirable microflora and pathogens) and the stimulation of the immune system. Research and industry experiments on the application of probiotic bacteria in meat processing have proved that raw fermented sausages are the most suitable environment for their growth. In the meat industry, like in other food industry branches, a key criteria for the selection of appropriate probiotics strains are as follows: their safety (non-pathogenicity), growth properties during processing or resistance to changing parameters of technological processes as well as characteristics that enable the attainment of the expected quality, including the desired sensory attributes of final products. The article presents the most important properties and criteria of the selection of suitable probiotic bacteria for food and problems concerning the application of probiotics in meat processing.
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