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Probiotics are increasingly used as functional food ingredients. The objectives of this study were to isolate and characterise probiotic bacteria from dairy and fermented foods and to use a selected strain for the production of probiotic chèvre cheese. Tolerance to acid (pH 2.0) and bile salt (0.4% (<i>w</i>/<i>v</i>)) were first investigated, and then other probiotic properties were determined. Out of 241 isolates, 35 showed high tolerance to acid and bile salt, and 6 were chosen for further characterisation. They were <i>Lactobacillus plantarum</i> and <i>L. fermentum</i>, and possessed antibacterial activities against foodborne pathogens such as <i>Bacillus</i> <i>cereus</i>, <i>Staphylococcus</i> <i>aureus</i>, <i>Salmonella</i> <i>enterica</i> and <i>Escherichia</i> <i>coli</i> O157:H7. <i>L. plantarum</i> (isolate AD73) showed the highest percentage of adhesion (81.74 ± 0.16%) and was nontoxic to Caco-2 cells at a concentration of 10⁸ CFU/mL. This isolate was therefore selected for the production of probiotic chèvre cheese from goat’s milk and was prepared in a lyophilised form with a concentration of probiotic culture of 8.6 log CFU/g. The cheese had a shelf life of 8 days. On the expiry date, the probiotic, the starter and the yeast contents were 7.56 ± 0.05, 7.81 ± 0.03 and 5.64 log CFU/g, respectively. The level of the probiotics in this chèvre cheese was still sufficiently high to warrant its being a probiotic cheese.