Abstract:Conjugated linoleic acid （CLA）is a kind of functional fatty acid that exhibits a number of health benefits.It has a wide field of application in food and health care industry.Nonetheless，natural concentrations of CLA in food products are relatively low to exert their health benefits.Lactic acid bacteria which is widely used in the field of food processing may produce CLA.Incorporation of Lactic acid bacteria into foods for increasing CLA content to develop functional food products have been the target of research in recent years.This review introduced the recent studies on CLA production and probiotic assessment of lactic acid bacteria.In addition，the recent progress on microbial CLA production by lactic acid bacteria in food and forage were presented to promote the development of CLA -enriched functional foods.Furthermore，the possible development in producing CLA-enriched functional foods by lactic acid bacteria in future was also prospected.