EPS synthesis was preliminarily determined in triplicate by growing cell colonies on MRS-sucrose agar plates containing modified MRS medium with 50 g/l sucrose. Cell suspension (OD600 = 0.3) was prepared in M17 broth by growing the isolates for 24 h at 30 °C. Cells from 0.5ml of culture were harvested by centrifugation (3,260 g, 5 min), washed with 1 ml of sterile water and resuspended in 0.2 ml of sterile water. Inoculation was performed by spotting 2 ll of bacterial suspension (about 5 9 107 bacteria, 10 spots/plate) on MRS (which contains glucose) and MRS-sucrose agar media.After incubation at 30 °C for 24–48 h, the isolates which produced slimy colonies were recorded as capable of producing EPS and classified according to visual appear- ance (compact, creamy or liquid slime). The diameter of the zone of the bacterial growth was also measured [31].LAB were inoculated on Ruthenium Red Milk agar plate and incubated at 30 °C for 48 h. The isolates which pro- duced white coloured colonies were recorded as ropy [32].For EPS yield determination, all isolates were grown in MRS broth medium containing 5 % sucrose. After 24 h of incubation at 37 °C, cultures were centrifuged at 8,000 g for 10 min to remove cells, 3 volumes of cold anhydrous ethanol was added to 1 volume of culture supernatants and the mixtures were stored overnight at 4 °C. After ethanol precipitation and centrifugation, precipitates were resus- pended in distilled water to the original volume [33]. Total amount of EPS was determined as the total carbohydrate content of the precipitates by the phenol–sulphuric acid method using glucose as standard [34]. A (1 ml) aliquot