Freezing resistance improvement of Lactobacillus reuteri by using cell immobilization.

Lactobacillus reuteri shows certain beneficial effects to human health and is recognized as a probiotic. However, its application in frozen foods is still not popular because of its low survival during freezing and frozen storage. Cell immobilization technique could effectively exert protection effects to microbial cells in order to enhance their endurance to unfavorable environmental conditions as well as to improve their viability and cell concentration.

Basic characteristics of Sporolactobacillus inulinus BCRC 14647 for potential probiotic properties.

The basic characteristics of the spore-forming lactic acid bacterium, Sporolactobacillus inulinus BCRC 14647, was evaluated in vitro for its potential probiotic properties. Assessments including acid and bile salt tolerance, adhesiveness, and antagonistic effects on pathogenic Salmonella enteritidis BCRC 10744, as well as inhibition factors of spent culture supernatant (SCS) and an invasion assay, were conducted using Lactobacillus acidophilus BCRC 10695 and two bifidobacteria (Bifidobacterium bifidum BCRC 14615 and B. longum BCRC 11847) as a reference.

Fermentation of banana media by using kappa-carrageenan immobilized Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Fermentation media were prepared by using banana as the raw material, and cell immobilization of Lactobacillus acidophilus by kappa-carrageenan entrapment was applied to enhance the fermentation efficiency. Gel beads of diameters around 3.0 mm were prepared for the immobilized cells, ripe bananas were used for preparation of media, and both free and immobilized cells were employed to carry out the fermentation for 80 h.