Immobilization and microencapsulation

Abstract

The utilization of probiotics is continuously increasing due to various benefits conferred on the health of consumers. Probiotic foods are a group of functional foods with growing market shares and large commercial interest. In this context, the viability of the probiotic culture in food products is favored by Microencapsulation, mainly by the properties of protection against adverse environmental conditions and controlled release. The most popular system of immobilization reported is entrapment of cells in a gel matrix of alginate. The beads are formed by this method have a range of 2-3 mm in diameter. In case of alginate capsule the extrusion method involve the following steps: preparation of hydrocolloid solution, addition of probiotic cells into the above mentioned solution in order to form cell suspension and extrusion of the cell suspension through syringe needle.