Bifidobacterium animalis
species of bacterium
Bifidobacterium animalis is a gram-positive, anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium of the Bifidobacterium genus which can be found in the large intestines of most mammals, including humans.
Bifidobacterium animalis and Bifidobacterium lactis were previously described as two distinct species. Presently, both are considered B. animalis with the subspecies Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. animalis and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis.
Both old names B. animalis and B. lactis are still used on product labels, as this species is frequently used as a probiotic. In most cases, which subspecies is used in the product is not clear.
Trade names
Several companies have attempted to trademark particular strains, and as a marketing technique, have invented scientific-sounding names for the strains.
Danone (Dannon in the United States) markets the subspecies strain DN 173 010 as Bifidus Digestivum (UK), Bifidus Regularis (US and Mexico), Bifidobacterium Lactis or B.L. Regularis (Canada), DanRegularis (Brazil), Bifidus Actiregularis (Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain and the UK), and Bifidus Essensis in the Middle East (and formerly in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and The Netherlands) through Activia from Safi Danone KSA.
One notable example involved Danone’s attempt to enforce a trademark on an invented probiotic strain name. Danone held a trademark for “Bifidus Essensis”, which it used in marketing its Activia products, and sued Glanbia after the launch of Yoplait “Essence” products in the Irish market, claiming trademark infringement.
“Bifidobacterium animalis” enters the record as species of bacterium. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bifidobacterium, animalis and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Bifidobacterium animalis” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Bifidobacterium, animalis and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4904767. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Bifidobacterium animalis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.