Effect of Temperature and Storage on Free and Encapsulated Lactobacillus Acidophilus NCIM 2660 and Lactobacillus Bulgaricus NCIM 2056 in Different Food Matrix

Abstract

In today’s world, the research into the health benefits of probiotics has rocketed sky high. The survivability of probiotics in foods depends on various factors during processing and storage. Heat is used in the process of a lot of foods. The fact was given that the amount of probiotics on the consumption of foods should be at least 107 CFU/g and that probiotic bacteria are sensitive to heat, so the survival of probiotics during thermal processing are the main challenges to food manufacturers. The main objective of the work is to study the effect of alginate encapsulation on temperature tolerance of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCIM 2660 and Lactobacillus bulgaricus NCIM 2056. Free cells of L. acidophilus NCIM 2660 and L. bulgaricus NCIM 2056 were exposed to different temperatures (60°C, 70°C, 80°C , and 90°C) at different intervals of time (1 min, 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, 25 min, and 30 min). It was observed that L. acidophilus NCIM 2660 and L. bulgaricus NCIM 2056 can tolerate up to 100°C for 1 minute as free cells. In order to increase the temperature tolerance capacity, encapsulation was tried. Encapsulated L. acidophilus NCIM 2660 and L. bulgaricus NCIM 2056 were exposed to different temperatures i.e. >100°C for different time intervals. Results revealed that encapsulation could improve the temperature tolerance of L. bulgaricus NCIM 2056 up to 120°C for 1 minute. The present study revealed the advantage of encapsulation in protecting the bacterial cells from high temperature. These encapsulated cells can be utilized to formulate functional foods which will be heat processed before consumption. L. acidophilus NCIM 2660 and L. bulgaricus NCIM 2056 was incorporated in orange peel jelly as free cells and L. plantarum NCIM 2083 and L. bulgaricus NCIM 2056 was incorporated in dried snacks and their survivability in food matrix was studied for 3 weeks.