Abstract
The viability of probiotics in non-dairy food products during storage is required to meet content criteria for probiotic products. This study investigated whether non-dairy foods could be matrices for probiotics. Selected probiotic bacteria were coated on non-dairy foods under two storage conditions, and viabilities were assessed. The non-dairy foods were coated with 5–7 log cfu g−1 of Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC4356T, Lactobacillus plantarum RC30, and Bifidobacterium longum ATCC15707T. The coated non-dairy foods were stored at 20 °C and 20% relative humidity (RH) or 30 °C and 50% RH. Viability of probiotic bacteria was determined after 0, 2, and 4 weeks of storage. B. longum showed the highest survival at week 4 of 6.5–6.7 log cfu g−1 on wheat bran and oat, compared with 3.7–3.9 log cfu g−1 of L. acidophilus and 4.2–4.8 log cfu g−1 of L. plantarum at 20 °C 20% RH. Under the storage conditions of 30 °C 50% RH, survival of 4.5 log cfu g−1 of B. longum was also found on oat and peanut. This was two and four times higher than the population of L. acidophilus and L. plantarum, respectively. The results suggest that probiotics can survive on non-dairy foods under ambient storage conditions. However, the storage conditions, food matrices, and probiotic strains should be carefully chosen to maximize probiotic bacteria survival.
Highlights
The development of innovative food products with improved sensory properties and demonstrated health benefits is needed in the rapidly growing probiotics food sector
Storage conditions, and storage time significantly affected the survivability of B. longum ATCC15707T, L. acidophilus ATCC4356T, and L. plantarum RC30 (p < 0.05)
We found that storage temperature and relative humidity have a significant effect on the survival of probiotic bacteria
Summary
The development of innovative food products with improved sensory properties and demonstrated health benefits is needed in the rapidly growing probiotics food sector. Probiotics are micro-organisms with demonstrated health benefits to the recipient, and are used as “food additives” in the industry. Species belonging to the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium longum, and Bifidobacterium bifidum, are considered to be probiotics with well-documented evidence [1,2,3]. Probiotics need to be alive and have a minimum population of 106–107 cfu per g or mL in a product [4]. The incorporation of probiotics into processed food products and subsequent storage can be stressful for bacterial cells, and their viability may decrease. The quality of the final probiotic product is determined by bacterial survival
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