would not only be utilizable in decontamination procedures and in protective cultures. It would also provide a mechanistic explanation for the antimicrobial and health-promoting effects of probiotic lactic acid bacteria (Salminen, Deighton, Benno, & Gorbach, 1998). Lactic acid, in addition to its antimicrobial property due to the lowering of the pH, also functions as a permeabilizer of the gramnegative bacterial outer membrane. It may also act as a potentiator of the effects of other antimicrobial substances (Alakomi et al., 2000).