An attractive strategy for designing functional meat products is the use of probiotic cultures. Probiotic bacteria
are ‘Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host’
.
Those beneficial health effects can be multiple and depend on strain, dose, administration method, population group
and physiological state of the host
. Dairy products are the most commonly used food vehicles for the delivery of
probiotics. They have been on the market for many years and are well accepted by consumers
. However, a few
studies have also demonstrated the feasibility of elaborating fermented meat products with probiotic cultures