The invention relates to a process for testing the viability of certain strains of lactic bacteria producing exopolysaccharides in lyophilized form by using a system of in-vitro simulation of alimentary tract under sterility and anaerobiosis conditions in Duran tubes provided with a silicone septum which simulate the conditions in Hungate tubes. The process claimed by the invention includes the carrying out of gastric and intestinal juice, sterilization by filtration with Millipore filter upon introduction into the sterile Duran tube, determining viability under the compartment-specific simulated gastric-intestinal conditions, according to the physiologic dynamics of the transit through each compartment and computing in vitro viability and mortality, the results being read and interpreted in a completely automatic manner, using colonyQuant and the corresponding software, within 48 h, at the most, since the colonies development on the specific medium.
