The survival rates of Salmonella agona, Salmonella java, Salmonella typhimurium and Shigella sonnei in milk and fermented milk products were investigated with and without the addition of human gastric juice during a 7 to 10 hour test period. It was found that yoghurt inhibited the growth of Salmonella and Shigella very effectively even when the yoghurt had been heated to 100 degrees C for 15 minutes, whereas milk and the other fermented milk products showed a lower ability to inhibit the growth of pathogens. Yoghurt plus human gastric juice greatly depressed the growth rate of the pathogens; after 30 minutes no more colonies were formed. Even kefir or ropy milk plus gastric juice showed inhibition of Salmonella typhimurium after one hour. In the case of acidophilus milk plus gastric juice, the inhibition of Salmonella typhimurium occurred first after 2.5 hours and the presence of viable Shigella sonnei was noticed for 4 hours. The addition of physiological NaCl instead of human gastric juice to the fermented milk samples before inoculation changed the picture of the survival rate. Only yoghurt inhibited the growth of Salmonella java after 30 minutes; Shigella sonnei survived in yoghurt for 4 hours and in the other fermented milk samples for 5 hours. It can be assumed that yoghurt contains some antimicrobial compounds that inhibit the growth of pathogens and that this inhibiting property is enhanced by the addition of human gastric juice.