Microencapsulation of Lactobacillus Sp. Using Two Different Materials and Comparison for Encapsulation Efficiency

V. Padhmavathi and Radhakrishnan Preetha*

Department of Food Process Engineering, SRM University, Kattankulathur, 603203

Corresponding Author E- Mail: preetha.r@ktr.srmuniv.ac.in

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/2148

ABSTRACT: Probiotics  are microorganisms which, when taken orally, provide beneficial effects on human gut health. Microencapsulation of probiotics is a technique that is currently receiving considerable interest as it helps probiotics to survive against adverse environmental conditions in the human body. In this project , a study to determine the stronger encapsulating material is done by encapsulating Lactobacillus sp. using alginate and skim milk alginate. The encapsulation was done by extruding into 100mM CaCl₂ solution. Viability test, bile salt tolerance test and storage stability was performed. On analyzing the results it was found that, the skim milk alginate beads had the efficiency of 96.48%. The bacteria encapsulated using skim milk alginate was more viable and more tolerant towards bile salt. The storage stability test was carried out for a period of 28 days and it was found that the probiotic encapsulated using skim milk alginate were more viable. From the results it was concluded that skim milk alginate was a stronger encapsulating material than alginate because of the strong network forming nature of milk proteins.

KEYWORDS: Probiotics; Lactobacillus sp; microencapsulation; alginate; skim milk

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