Following overnight incubation at 30°C in 10 ml MRS broth, genomic extraction was carried out using DNeasy Blood and Tissuekit according the manufacturer protocol (QIAgen, USA). A pair of 16S rRNA primer was designed and synthesized based on the published 16S rRNA sequence of LAB (Edwards et al., 1989). A forward primer (pA 5’- AGA GTT TGA TCC TGG CTC AG -3’) and a reverse primer (pE 5’- CCG TCA ATT CCT TTG AGT TT -3’) were purchased from 1st Base (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. The amplifications were performed with initial denaturation at 94°C for 4 min, and 29 cycles of denaturation at 94°C for 2 min; annealing at 55°C for 1 min and extension at 72°C. All DNA templates used were approximately 5 ng DNA.