Isolation and Screening of Potential Probiotic Strains from a Traditional Fermented Food Matrice-Chhurpi of North East India

Diversity within the species of lactic acid bacteria and bacilli has created the ethnic foods with different sensory characteristics. This study evaluated the potential of different microbial strains isolated from chhurpi-a north east fermented food. In total 11 probiotic strains were isolated from different composite chhurpi samples of Northeast India. Out of 11 isolates, 6 potential probiotic isolates were further screened to evaluate its antimicrobial potential against various food borne pathogens. The different morphological and biochemical tests were performed for screened isolates and most of the isolates were gram positive, catalase negative and were able to ferment different sugars. Northeast India is the center of the diverse food culture comprising fermented and non-fermented ethnic foods. Ethnic foods are fermented naturally and thus have novel microorganisms as fermenting source. Chhurpi is a fermented dairy product hard in consistency and rich in fermenting microorganisms.