The Lac663 probe was found to be a specific and sensitive PNA probe for Lactobacillus spp.
that together with FISH methodology may be a reliable and fast (approximately 3 h) alternative
technique for potential probiotic lactobacilli detection and/or quantification in complex matrices,
such as the probiotic milk samples. Using this method, only milk samples with an effective
number of probiotic bac- teria (at least 107 CFU/ml) will show appropriate results. However, if a
lower detection limit is desired, a destabilizing solution may be ap- plied to the milk samples
followed by a filtration step, to concentrate
the samples.