Microencapsulation Effectiveness of Probiotics

According to International standards (e.g., International Dairy Federation), probiotic products should be contain a minimum of 107 viable probiotic bacteria per gram of product. However, many products failed to meet these standards when they are consumed. Microencapsulation is coating a layer of hydrocolloids around viable cells in microscopic scale and surrounding them from environment for releasing of targeted cells in the appropriate place and time. The results of studies have been shown that encapsulation of probiotics lead to increasing its viabilities, improving and maintaining sensory properties of the products especially during storage as well as achieving to new methods of production of dairy products. This article will briefly review the efficiency of probiotic microencapsulation, and the factors affecting microencapsulation effectiveness of probiotics.