Chapter 9 - Probiotic and Synbiotic Yogurt Production Using Free or Alginate/Resistant Starch Microencapsulated Lactobacillus plantarum

Abstract

Yogurt is one of the most consumed fermented milk products with many health beneficial effects in human. In order to fortify its functionalities, probiotics or prebiotics are added to it. Microencapsulation is the most common method used to improve the viability of probiotics in foods and against gastrointestinal adverse conditions. The main objective of this review is to explain the production procedure of probiotic and synbiotic yogurt containing free or alginate/resistant starch encapsulated Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC1058, and to explain the emulsion technique of microencapsulation and its effect on survival of L. plantarum during the storage period. In this review the microbial, physicochemical, and sensory properties of probiotic yogurt containing free L. plantarum (F), and synbiotic yogurt containing microencapsulated L. plantarum plus resistant starch used in wall material (M) is discussed and compared with plain yogurt. The results of researches indicated that microencapsulation offer an effective protection for L. plantarum in yogurt. According to our research study the viable counts of L. plantarum remained at 3.3 × 107 CFU/mL, in M samples, while it was dropped to 1.6 × 106 CFU/mL, in F samples, after 8 weeks. It was concluded that production of probiotic and synbiotic yogurt containing free or encapsulated L. plantarum is possible by maintaining the physicochemical properties of regular yogurt and sensory characteristics similar to or even better than regular yogurt.