Development of synbiotic beverage from beetroot juice using beneficial probiotic <em>Lactobacillus Casei</em> 431

Abstract

Abstract. A beetroot beverage with Lactobacillus casei 431 as the probiotic microorganism was tested for sensory acceptability at 3 fermentation periods of 2, 4 and 6 hours at 37 o C. The beverage fermented for 2 hours yielded the highest overall sensory acceptability. L. casei 431 grew well and reached nearly 10 8 CFU/ mL after 2 hours of fermentation at 37 o C. Although the lactic culture in the fermented beetroot beverage gradually lost its viability during cold storage, viable cell count of lactic acid bacteria remained at 10 6 –10 8 CFU/mL after 4 weeks of cold storage at 4 o C. Titratable acidity increased significantly from 5.5±0.05 to 3.45x10 8 ( P ≤ 0.05) during storage. This study concludes that this beetroot-based synbiotic fermented beverage could be developed as a ready-to-drink product and kept for 6 weeks under refrigerated storage, meeting the standard 10 8 –10 10 CFU/mL of a functional drink. Keywords. Functional food; Lactobacillus casei ; prebiotics; probiotics; synbiotic beverage.