Novel Production Protocol for Small-scale Manufacture of Probiotic Fermented Foods

Abstract

A novel dried bacterial consortium of Lactobacillus rhamnosus yoba 2012 and Streptococcus thermophilus C106 is cultured in 1 L of milk. This fresh starter can be used for the production of fermented milk and other fermented foods either at home or at small-scale in rural settings. For the fresh starter, 1 L of milk is pasteurized in a pan that fits into a larger pan containing water, placed on a source of heat. In this water bath, the milk is heated and incubated at 85 °C for 30 min. Thereafter, the milk is cooled down to 45 °C, transferred to a vacuum flask, inoculated with the dried bacteria and left for at least 16 hr between 30 °C and 45 °C. For the purpose of frequent home production, the fresh starter is frozen into ice cubes, which can be used for the production of small volumes of up to 2 L of fermented milk. For the purpose of small-scale production in resource-poor countries, pasteurization of up to 100 L of milk is conducted in milk cans that are placed in a large sauce pan filled with water and heated on a fire at 85 °C for 30 min, and subsequently cooled to 45 °C. Next, the 100 L batch is inoculated with the 1 L freshly prepared starter mentioned before. To assure an effective fermentation at a temperature between 30 and 45 °C, the milk can is covered with a blanket for 12 hr. For the production of non-dairy fermented foods, the fresh starter is left in a cheese cloth for 12 hr, and the drained-off whey can be subsequently used for the inoculation of a wide range of food raw materials, including vegetables and cereal-based foods.

Improving Health and Wealth by Introduction of an Affordable Bacterial Starter Culture for Probiotic Yoghurt Production in Uganda

“…The increasing popularity and attention for probiotics in the western world by both consumers and the scientific world, and the associated growth in probiotic products, cannot be replicated directly in Africa. Hence, the intervention that enables local communities to produce and sell their own probiotic yoghurts was tailored to the local circumstances in a continuous process of searching for appropriate solutions [16,[71][72][73][74][75]. The production of locally produced probiotic yoghurt by means of an affordable shelf stable bacterial starter culture can be seen as a bottom-up innovation that complies with local needs and capabilities, facilitates employment, increases purchasing power and improves access for many people to an affordable, tasty and healthy product that can be part of the daily diet.…”

“…The characteristics of the probiotic starter culture and its specific use have recently been described [73,74]. In short, the dried starter culture consists of L. rhamnosus yoba 2012 and an adjuvant strain Streptococcus thermophilus C106.…”

“…Systematic outline of the set-up of the intervention of locally produced probiotic yoghurt. The bacterial starter culture and the specific production protocol are described by Kort et al [73] and Westerik et al [74], respectively.…”

“…Probiotic yoghurt containing L. rhamnosus yoba 2012 and S. thermophilus C106 was prepared by Amuria Farmers' Cooperative Society Limited, Amuria town, Amuria, Uganda, on a daily basis in agreement with the Yoba for Life production protocols [74]. The yoghurt was packed in 100 mL polythene packaging bags as supplied by Heifer International.…”

Expanding the reach of probiotics through social enterprises

“…Sequence comparison could confirm that all technical and functional properties attributed to the original strain exist with the same level of certainty in the Yoba 2012 strain as in actual commercial clones of L. rhamnosus GG, branded as LGG® (Kort and Sybesma, 2012). They then created a two-strain sachet containing Yoba 2012 plus a Streptococcus thermophilus C106 strain that was highly efficient at fermenting milk Westerik et al, 2016). They showed that a 1 gram sachet could produce 100 litres of probiotic fermented milk, including the propagated L. rhamnosus Yoba strain.…”