The effects of Microencapsulation of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum by alginate and Arabic gum in canned carrot jam

Microencapsulation technique with various hydrocolloidal coatings is used to improve viability potential of probiotics in processed food. As a probiotic product, canned jam should contain a sufficient number of viable probiotic bacteria. In this study, we evaluated the protective effects of Arabic gum and alginate on the survival of two important probiotic bacteria, Lactobacillus acidophilus DSM 1643 and Bifidobacteriumbifidum1644. Microencapsulation of these two probiotic bacteria was carried out by alginate and Arabic gum, and their impacts on the survivability and the sensory characteristics of canned carrot jam were examined for one month. According to our results, although the reduction in the number of probiotics in canned jam at different time was significant, this product was able to retain a good number of probiotic bacteria. There was a significant difference between the dropped number of coated and free bacteria. However, no significant difference was observed in the survival rate of probiotics coated by Arabic Gum and alginate. Moreover, the addition of free and encapsulated probiotics had no significant impact on texture, color and flavour of the final product during the maintenance time. The probiotic survival can be enhanced by cell protection through encapsulation.