Abstract
The food biotechnology industry has developed numbers of fermented products containing probiotic strains. Sufficient numbers of selected live probiotics in the products have several advantages for human health. Nowadays, there is increased demand for probiotic based beverages. The application of probiotic cultures in different food matrices (dairy and non-dairy based beverages), could represent a great challenge for viability of probiotics. The success of new probiotic beverages depend on capability of probiotics to provide enough numbers of viable cells that beneficially modify the gut microbiota of the host. Therefore, this article provides an overview of the application of probiotics in dairy and non-dairy based beverages and their viability during refrigerated storage.