E. Faecalis Safety Studies

I don't think anybody is buying this threelac scare but if you need additional information here it is below. I don't have any personal business invested interested in this. Is what it comes down to is there are good and bad strains.

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Here's another brief report indicating that certain enterococci strains may be useful in probiotics:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/f2x6462x83v80039/


And from the following:
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15738389


"E. faecalis EE4 and E. faecium EF01 showed the best probiotic properties. It indicates that they could be used as new candidate probiotic strains after in vivo testing."

And here:
http://www.cirval.univ-corse.fr/publication/tintenna/t18/enteroart.htm

Enterococci in Food Fermentations. Functional and Safety Aspects

A presentation of the UE - FAIR project CT97-3078


"Enterococci are typical Lactic Acid bacteria (LAB)."

"LAB are Generally Recognised As Safe (‘GRAS’) and, therefore, their safe use as starter cultures, or even as "probiotics", is generally not questioned."

"Information available on current probiotics supports their safety in food use. Safety studies have indicated no significant risk factors or virulence factors associated with probiotic enterococci thus far. Neither did surveillance studies report any current enterococcal probiotics to be involved in endocarditis or other bacteremia infections (Saxelin et al., 1996)."

"Presently, only the use and application of animal probiotics are regulated. This is based on Council Directive 70/524/EEC of 23 November 1970 on feed additives which has been amended recently by directive 1999/20/EC. Approval has so far been granted for the 5 enterococcal strains and a complete dossier was prepared according to Commission Directive 94/40/EC amending Council Directive 87/153/EEC. Regulation and formal mandatory approval of new LAB starter cultures for human use does not exist in the way it is being applied to animal probiotics. This practice is based on the long tradition of safe use and association of LAB in food fermentations and their "GRAS" status."
"Evidence was also provided to demonstrate the lack of pathogenicity and the lack of any adverse effects in volunteers during a six-week trial."

"Based on a long history of the safe association of particular enterococci with some traditional food fermentations, the use of such strains appears to bear no particular risk for human health. In fact, no infections have yet been related to food fermented according to good manufacturing procedures."

And another:
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/73/2/365S


"In Germany, species such as L. rhamnosus, E. faecium, and E. faecalis have been grouped into risk group 2, ie, potential pathogens. The investigators responsible for this classification, however, concede that strains of these species with a documented safe history may belong to a risk group 1 (ie, species constituting no risk). Such strains that have found application in food fermentations or certain probiotic products for a long time are considered as safe." Tweet