Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) form a group of bacteria to which most probiotics belong and are commonly found in fermented dairy products. Fermented foods and beverages are foods made through desired microbial growth and enzymatic conversions of food components. In this study, 43 LAB were isolated from Ethiopian traditional cottage cheese, cheese, and yogurt and evaluated for their functional and safety properties as candidate probiotics. Twenty-seven isolates, representative of each fermented food type, were selected and identified to the species level. Limosilactobacillus fermentum was found to be the predominant species in all samples studied (70.4%), while 11.1% of isolates were identified as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum. All 27 isolates tested showed resistance to 0.5% bile salt, while 26 strains were resistant to pH 3.