P. acidilactici is a homofermentative bacterium that can grow in a wide range of pH, temperature, and osmotic pressure, therefore being able to colonize the digestive tract.

[2] Pediococcus acidilactici is a facultative anaerobe that grows well on de Man, Rogosa, Sharpe agar of an optimum pH of 6.2, with an overnight incubation at 37 and 45 °C (99 and 113 °F).

Pediococci exert antagonism against other microorganisms, including enteric pathogens, primarily through the production of lactic acid and secretion of bacteriocins known as pediocins.

Though it is being used as a probiotic supplement to treat constipation, and diarrhea, relieve stress, and enhance immune response among birds and small animals, human trials are still limited.

Before treatment with orally administered mixtures of P. acidilactici and Saccharomyces boulardii, the dogs diagnosed with parvovirus infection were shown to exhibit severe gastrointestinal distress such as vomiting and bloody diarrhea.