Home > Community > Food > Danisco technology toughens up probiotic cultures

Danisco technology toughens up probiotic cultures

Published: 22 Sep 2009 19:07:58 PST

Danisco Bio Actives has unveiled outstanding initial results using novel encapsulation technology to improve the survival of probiotic cultures at high temperatures and during storage in semi-moist applications.

Trials with an encapsulated Lactobacillus acidophilus culture have found that resistance to temperatures up to 50°C (122°F) increased tenfold when heat treatment was applied for 24 hours under dry conditions. In addition, the probiotic strain retained 60% viability after five months' storage at room temperature in a nutritional bar with a moisture level of 0.35Aw.

Additional tests with the encapsulated probiotic in a recombined cheese application showed processing resistance 2,500 times superior to that of the control.

Isabelle Mazeaud, bioprocess development senior scientist at Danisco, presented the technology at the Industrial Workshop on Microencapsulation of Flavors and Bioactives in Minnesota, US.

“A high level of probiotic survival all through process and storage is technically and economically critical for food and supplement manufacturers,” she said. “The new encapsulation technique will eventually open up new development possibilities in nutrition bars, infant formulas, breakfast cereals, powder beverages and processed cheese.”