Properties and applications of different probiotic delivery systems

Abstract

Probiotic products should contain and maintain viable cells during the product shelf life at least above therapeutic minimum level for the benefit of consumers. Due to their generally poor viability and stability in food products, especially in fermented dairy products, as well as in the host gastrointestinal tract, various microencapsulation techniques for probiotics have been developed in recent years to overcome these issues. This chapter describes the benefit of microencapsulation, various encapsulation techniques used to encapsulate probiotics and the application of encapsulated probiotics in selected food systems. The use of various supporting or encapsulating materials, such as alginate, chitosan and carrageenan is also discussed. Special treatments (such as complexation coating) of capsules for further improving the stability of the probiotics are also described.