After systematic review, 426 observations on log reduction data were extracted from twenty studies. The results suggest that exposure time, antimicrobial and pathogen’s inoculum concentrations and biopreservative method of application are related to LAB antimicrobial effectiveness. Furthermore, interaction between bacterium and exposure time was found, revealing the distinct LAB inhibitory effect on different pathogens for the same exposure time. One model also showed that, generally, higher microbial reduction can be achieved when LAB are added to milk, while application into cheese surface or mixture tend to present lower antimicrobial effect, even if still adequate for pathogen control. Globally, the results of these meta-regression models highlight the opportunity for increased microbial safety of dairy fermented products by adding functional starter cultures. Keywords: Biopreservation, starter culture, antimicrobial activity, mixed-effects linear model, meta-analysis.
