Three potentially probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains, Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 (DR20(TM)), Lb. acidophilus HN017 and Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 (DR10()), have recently been identified and characterized. The present study was designed to evaluate the acute oral toxicity of these strains to mice, and also to investigate bacterial translocation and gut mucosal pathology in BALB/c mice fed HN019, HN001 or HN017 for 8 consecutive days at a high dose of 10(11)cfu/mouse/day. Results showed that these probiotic strains had no adverse effect on general health status, feed intake, body weight gain and intestinal mucosal morphology (villus height, crypt depth, epithelial cell height and mucosal thickness). No viable bacteria were recovered from blood and tissue samples (mesenteric lymph nodes, liver and spleen) of mice, and no treatment-associated illness or death was observed. According to these results, the oral LD(50) of HN019, HN001 and HN017 is more than 50g/kg/day for mice, and their acceptable daily intake (ADI) value is 35g dry bacteria per day for a 70-kg person. This suggests that the probiotic strains HN019, HN001 and HN017 are non-pathogenic and likely to be safe for human consumption.