Impact of encapsulating probiotics with cocoa powder on the viability of probiotics during chocolate processing, storage, and in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

Abstract

Chocolates can be formulated as a functional food via enrichment with probiotics. However, the added probiotics must overcome the challenges of processing and storage conditions and the harsh gastrointestinal environment. The study aimed to overcome these challenges using two different formulations of cocoa powder as alternative encapsulants along with Na‐alginate (A1) and Na‐alginate and fructooligosaccharides (A2). Seven different probiotic strains were encapsulated individually using the new formulations and viabilities of these encapsulated probiotics were assessed prior to and after they were added to chocolates. The highest achieved encapsulation efficiencies were 93.40% for formulation A1 (with Lactobacillus casei) and 95.36% for formulation A2 (with Lactobacillus acidophilus La5). The encapsulated probiotics with the new formulations maintained higher viability than the recommended therapeutic level (107 colony forming unit [CFU]/g) for up to 180 and 120 days of storage at 4 and 25 °C, respectively. The tested encapsulants improved probiotics survival when subjected to thermal stress and maintained about 9.0 Logs CFU/g at 60 °C. Additionally, the viable numbers of probiotics in fortified chocolates showed higher than 7 Logs CFU/g after 90 days of storage at 25 °C. Both formulations exhibited significantly (P < 0.05) high survivability of probiotics (8.0 Logs CFU/g) during the in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. This study demonstrated that cocoa powder along with Na‐alginate and FOS has the potential to be used as a probiotic encapsulating material, and chocolates could be an excellent carrier for the development of healthy probiotic chocolate products. Practical Application The introduction of cocoa powder as an effective encapsulating agent to deliver probiotics could help the chocolate industry to develop healthy and attractive functional snacks for health‐conscious consumers.

Cellulose Microfiber Encapsulated Probiotic: Viability, Acid and Bile Tolerance during Storage at Different Temperature

“…These results demonstrate that when stored under the same conditions, different types of palm oil solid waste have no effect on the survival of LAB but are strongly reliant on the type of LAB encapsulated. LAB encapsulated in a mixture of some compounds maintained survivability of greater than 10 7 CFU/g for 180 days at low temperatures and 120 d at room temperature [49]. In comparison to free cells, the combination of whey protein isolate and fructooligosaccharide microcapsules considerably boosted bacteria stability in the product over 30 days at 4°C, averaging 8.57 log CFU/g for L. acidophilus and 7.61 log CFU/g for L. casei [50].…”

Current Trends in the Production of Probiotic Formulations

“…There are, however, some challenges to overcome, such as processing, storage, and gastrointestinal conditions. Formulations containing cocoa powder and sodium alginate were used in the encapsulation of probiotics by emulsion-based freeze drying, with an encapsulation efficiency of up to 95% [ 62 ]. The use of encapsulated probiotics allowed researchers to maintain the viability of the probiotics in the product at over 7.5 log cfu/g after 90 days of storage at 25 °C; they also recorded a high level of viability (8.0 log cfu/g) during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion.…”

Emerging Technologies and Coating Materials for Improved Probiotication in Food Products: a Review

“…Probiotic chocolate was developed by Hossain et al ( 2021 ) by fortifying with freeze dried Lactobacillus casei encapsulated with cocoa powder, alginate, and fructooligosaccharides. Higher viability of more than 7 log CFU/g in chocolate after 90 days of storage at 25 °C and gastrointestinal digestion process (8 log CFU/g), as well as cell count of above 10.50 log CFU/g during the colonic fermentation, showed the potential delivery of probiotics through chocolate.…”