in acidified MRS broth (final pH 2.5). The pH-adjusted MRS broth was inoculated with an overnight culture of the different LAB strains (1% v/v) to a final cell
concentration of approximately 1.0 10 7CFU/mL. pH tolerance was evaluated by measuring survival after 2 h of incubation at 37 C to simulate intestinal conditions. Bacterial counts were determined in duplicate, on MRS agar plates and incubated at 302.4.3. Bile tolerance