Evaluation of physicochemical, textural and sensorial characteristics of low-fat or low-sugar synbiotic ice-cream

Replacing a part of fat and sugar in ice-cream by inulin and lactulose as prebiotic may create a healthier product. Two low-fat and two low-sugar synbiotic ice-cream samples were manufactured inoculated with Lactobacillus acidophilus or Bacillus coagulans. The physicochemical, textural and sensorial characteristics of the samples were compared with regular ice-cream as control. Low-fat and low-sugar synbiotic ice-cream formulations were prepared by replacing 5% of the fat and sugar contents of the control formula by inulin and lactulose, respectively. According to the results, although the total solids of the ice-cream mixes did not differ significantly, there were significant (p<0.05) differences among fat and sugar contents. By replacing vegetable fat with inulin in low-fat synbiotic ice-creams, overrun, viscosity, hardness, adhesiveness and cohesiveness were increased significantly (p < 0.05). Replacing lactulose by sugar significantly (p<0.05) decrease the hardness. After 5 days of frozen storage, the taste score of synbiotic ice creams was significantly (p<0.05) lower than control group. However after 90 days of storage, sensory scores of treated and control samples were comparable. It was shown that the type of probiotic microorganism had no effect on studied characteristics. Low-fat or low-sugar synbiotic ice-creams can be produced in small scale because they had acceptable physicochemical, textural and sensorial characteristics; however it needs more studies to recommend for commercial production.