MICROENCAPSULATED PROBIOTICS IN ICE CREAM

Probiotics have been incorporated into a range of dairy products including ice cream, yoghurt, cheese, milk powder and frozen dairy desserts. An effective probiotic must reside at the desired target sites sufficiently long and at sufficient concentrations to elicit probiotic effects. However, due to processing condition and also during the transit in the human digestive system, there was a marked decline in the cells. Since the viability and stability of probiotics pose marketing and technological challenges, it was proposed to microencapsulate four proven probiotics using extrusion and emulsion method to stabilize the cells, enhance their viability and stability during production and storage of ice cream. Microencapsulation was done by two different methods (extrusion and emulsion) using two different combination of wall materials. Microencapsulated probiotic beads are incorporated into ice cream. Among different methods, the treatment-III (extrusion- sodium alginate + starch + whey protein concentrate) showed good viability for all probiotic strains and during different environmental condition without altering physico-chemical, textural and sensory properties of ice cream.