A flow cytometric method of detecting the number of viable Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 spores, said method comprising steps of: a) Suspending dry spores of Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 in phosphate buffered saline of pH 7.4 to obtain a spore suspension of a concentration of 10 7 /ml b) Enumerating the viable count of the suspension using flow cytometric analysis comprising steps of: i) Double staining the spore suspension of step a) with 50μM cFDA for staining live spores at 37°C for 60 minutes and with 10μM PI in the last 10 min ii) Staining the spore suspension of step a) with 1:1000 diluted SYTO BC TM for staining total spores and calibrated suspension of 1:100 diluted polystyrene microspheres at 37°C for 10 min in separate tubes iii) Performing flow cytometric detection using voltage parameters set at FSC-430 units, SSC-425 units, FITC-280 units and PE-269 units iv) Determining the density of the spores in the sample from the ratio of spore signals to microsphere signals in the cytogram v) Calculating the total number of spores as detected by SYTO BC TM staining by the formula Total No. of spores = # Events in SYTO BC TM + region # Events in beads × 10 6 × dilution factor vi) Calculating the number of viable spores by the formula No. of viable spores = # Events in cFDA + PI − region + # Events in cFDA + PI + region # Events in beads × 10 6 × dilution factor or No. of viable spores = Total No. of spores − # Events in PI + cFDA − region + # Events in cFDA − PI − region # Events in beads × 10 6 × dilution factor, a) Suspending dry spores of Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 in phosphate buffered saline of pH 7.4 to obtain a spore suspension of a concentration of 10 7 /ml b) Enumerating the viable count of the suspension using flow cytometric analysis comprising steps of: i) Double staining the spore suspension of step a) with 50μM cFDA for staining live spores at 37°C for 60 minutes and with 10μM PI in the last 10 min ii) Staining the spore suspension of step a) with 1:1000 diluted SYTO BC TM for staining total spores and calibrated suspension of 1:100 diluted polystyrene microspheres at 37°C for 10 min in separate tubes iii) Performing flow cytometric detection using voltage parameters set at FSC-430 units, SSC-425 units, FITC-280 units and PE-269 units iv) Determining the density of the spores in the sample from the ratio of spore signals to microsphere signals in the cytogram v) Calculating the total number of spores as detected by SYTO BC TM staining by the formula Total No. of spores = # Events in SYTO BC TM + region # Events in beads × 10 6 × dilution factor vi) Calculating the number of viable spores by the formula No. of viable spores = # Events in cFDA + PI − region + # Events in cFDA + PI + region # Events in beads × 10 6 × dilution factor or No. of viable spores = Total No. of spores − # Events in PI + cFDA − region + # Events in cFDA − PI − region # Events in beads × 10 6 × dilution factor, i) Double staining the spore suspension of step a) with 50μM cFDA for staining live spores at 37°C for 60 minutes and with 10μM PI in the last 10 min ii) Staining the spore suspension of step a) with 1:1000 diluted SYTO BC TM for staining total spores and calibrated suspension of 1:100 diluted polystyrene microspheres at 37°C for 10 min in separate tubes iii) Performing flow cytometric detection using voltage parameters set at FSC-430 units, SSC-425 units, FITC-280 units and PE-269 units iv) Determining the density of the spores in the sample from the ratio of spore signals to microsphere signals in the cytogram v) Calculating the total number of spores as detected by SYTO BC TM staining by the formula Total No. of spores = # Events in SYTO BC TM + region # Events in beads × 10 6 × dilution factor vi) Calculating the number of viable spores by the formula No. of viable spores = # Events in cFDA + PI − region + # Events in cFDA + PI + region # Events in beads × 10 6 × dilution factor or No. of viable spores = Total No. of spores − # Events in PI + cFDA − region + # Events in cFDA − PI − region # Events in beads × 10 6 × dilution factor,