selection and incorporation of the microbes into added-value functional The traditional use of starter micro-organisms in pro cesses such as dairy product fermentation. baking and viti- culture has been subject to little or no regulation. Ilowever, probiotic micro-organisms represent a novel application and may be consumed as "selfmedication" by consumers suffering from a wide variety of ailments. It is, therefore, understandable that the safety of these microbes is of singular interests to both the food and feed industry and to those consumers who will eventually use their products. In contrast to chemical food additives, there are no established or validated testing criteria to detemine the safety of a micro-organism. This situation has created a requirement for regulation of probiotics. Indeed, regulatory measures, once derived, may have relevance also to the general exploitation of micro-organisms in food or animal feed manufacture. Feord [71 produced an excellent review of emerging regula- tory frameworks, and therefore this report will focus on the existing and developing legislation within the EU speci- fically.