Danish-Swedish dairy products giant Arla Foods is to launch a scientific research project on Lactobacillus F19 bacteria, with the aim of proving that the bacteria can lower the human body’s development of resistance towards antibiotics.


Arla said on Friday that it would carry out the research in cooperation with professor Carl Erik Nord and associate professor Bo Svenungsson from the Swedish hospital Huddinge Universitetssjukhus in Stockholm.


University researchers in Lund, southern Sweden, first isolated the bacteria from dairy products in 1990, and Arla currently holds the world patent rights for its use in food items.