Microencapsulation by a Spray Drying Approach to Produce Innovative Probiotics-Based Products Extending the Shelf-Life in Non-Refrigerated Conditions

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 28; no. 2; p. 860
• Main Authors: Gullifa, Giuseppina, Risoluti, Roberta, Mazzoni, Cristina, Barone, Laura, Papa, Elena, Battistini, Alfredo, Martin Fraguas, Rodrigo, Materazzi, Stefano
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 15.01.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Acids; Bacteria; Dairy products; Dairy Products - microbiology; Drying; Encapsulation; Enumeration; Experiments; Feeds; Food; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Humans; Lactic acid; Lactic acid bacteria; Microbial Viability; microencapsulation; nutraceutics; Phase transitions; Polymers; Probiotics; Protective coatings; Room temperature; Scanning electron microscopy; Shelf life; Spray Drying; Storage stability; Thermogravimetric analysis; nutraceutics; spray drying; microencapsulation; probiotics
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules28020860
• ISSN: 1420-3049

Recently, there has been a growing interest in producing functional foods containing encapsulated probiotic bacteria due to their positive effects on human health. According to their perceived health benefits, probiotics have been incorporated into a range of dairy products, but the current major challenge is to market new, multicomponent probiotic foods and supplements. Nevertheless, only a few products containing encapsulated probiotic cells can be found as non-refrigerated products. In this work, spray drying technology was investigated in order to produce an innovative nutraceutical formulation based on lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and was able to ensure a good storage stability of probiotics (no less than 109 CFU/cps) in non-refrigerated conditions. Probiotic-loaded microparticles from spray drying experiments were produced under different conditions and compared by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the enumeration of the number of viable cells in order to identify the formulation exhibiting the most promising characteristics. Results from the dissolution test revealed that the optimized formulation provides a suitable amount of living cells after digestion of microparticles stored for 12 months at room temperature and confirmed that the microencapsulation process by spray drying ensures a good protection of probiotics for nutraceutical purposes.