Minoru Shirota

Minoru Shirota (代田 稔, Shirota Minoru; April 23, 1899 – March 10, 1982) was a Japanese microbiologist. In the 1930 Shirota identified a strain of lactic acid bacteria that is part of normal gut flora that he originally called Lactobacillus casei Shirota, which appeared to help contain the growth of harmful bacteria in the gut. The strain was later reclassified as Lactobacillus paracasei Shirota.^[1]

Minoru Shirota
Born	代田 稔 (Shirota Minoru) (1899-04-23)23 April 1899 Tatsuoka, Nagano, Japan
Died	10 March 1982(1982-03-10) (aged 82) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Microbiologist
Known for	Invention of Yakult

He founded the company Yakult Honsha in 1935 to sell beverages containing the strain branded Yakult.^[2]

He died in Tokyo, Japan in 1982.^{[citation needed]}