Effects of production methods and protective ingredients on the viability of probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus R0011 in air-dried alginate beads.

The goal of this study was to use a microencapsulation technology to prepare air-dried concentrated cultures of Lactobacillus rhamnosus R0011. The cultures were microencapsulated in alginate beads, which were added to a growth medium to allow cell multiplication inside the matrix; the beads were recovered, dipped in protective solutions, and air-dried. The effects of fermentation technology and of the composition of the protective solutions on subsequent survival during air-drying were examined. The cells prepared under a constant pH of 6.2 had only 2.5% survival to air-drying at 25 °C when the protective solution was composed of sucrose and phosphate. Allowing the pH to drop to 4.2 during the biomass production step and using a protective medium composed of glycerol, maltodextrin, yeast extract, and ascorbate increased survival to 20%. If the ingredients of the protective medium at the beginning of drying were concentrated at a water activity of 0.96 rather than 0.98, survival during air-drying increased further to 56%. This rate was similar to that of a traditional freeze-drying process. These data suggest that applying a combination of acid and osmotic stresses to L. rhamnosus R0011 cells improves their subsequent stability during the air-drying process. Dried microencapsulated cultures having 2.6 × 10 CFU·g were obtained.