Recent Advances for Encapsulating Spore Forming and Non-Spore Forming Probiotic Bacteria: Applications in Functional Food Products

Abstract

Prevention of infectious diarrhea, allergies, lactose intolerance, improved immune system function, and numerous health benefits have been associated with probiotic bacteria that are increasingly used in the food market. However, their stability and survival in food are limited by various factors, including pH, post-acidification during product storage post-fermentation, hydrogen peroxide formation, and storage temperatures. Thus, manufacturing functional foods requires preserving probiotics' viability, stability, and bioavailability. Encapsulation methods have been developed to formulate probiotic food products to address these limitations. This article presents the most recent discussions regarding encapsulation techniques (physical, chemical, and physicochemical) and wall materials (natural and synthetic polymers) used in the microencapsulation of bacteria with claimed probiotic properties (spore-forming and non-spore-forming) for application in food products. Thus, many protocols have been found in the scientific literature allowing different formulations in food systems. However, human in vivo studies are essential to prove the efficacy of these formulations.

Keywords: Probiotics, Health benefits, Microencapsulation, Wall materials, Food products