Survival of Free and Encapsulated Probiotic Bacteria and their effect on the Sensory Properties of Quarg Cheese Kadiya Kunal S.1,*, Kanawjia S. K.2, Solanki Akash K.3 1Dairy Technology Department, SMC College of Dairy Science, Anand Agricultural University, Anand-388110, Gujarat, India 2Cheese and Fermented food laboratory, Dairy Technology Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001, Haryana, India 3Dairy Technology Department, Amareli Dairy Science College, Kamdhenu University, Amareli, Gujarat, India *Corresponding author: Kunal S. Kadiya, kk.ndri2008@gmail.com
Online published on 19 September, 2014. Abstract The survival and effect of free and calcium-induced alginate-starch encapsulated probiotic bacteria (Lactobacillus casei NCDC 298 and Lactobacillus acidophilus NCDC 15), on sensory attributes of quarg cheese were studied over 30 days of storage. The results showed that there were significant difference (p<0.05) in free and encapsulated probiotic cells for both the probiotic bacteria after 30 days of storage. There was increased survival of 1.5 and 1 log cell Number chargess of both Lactobacillus casei NCDC 298 and Lactobacillus acidophilus NCDC 15, respectively due to protection of cells by microencapsulation. The high survivability of encapsulated probiotic cells 8.88 log in case of NCDC 298 compared to 8.14 log cells for NCDC 15 during 30 days of storage of quarg cheese, indicates that Lactobacillus casei NCDC 298 can be effectively used as therapeutic dose in encapsulated form for the manufacture of probiotic quarg cheese. The addition of probiotics either in free or encapsulated states did not significantly (p<0.05) affected various sensory attributes like flavor and taste, body and texture and color and appearance of the quarg cheese over the storage period. This study has shown that incorporation of free (M3) and encapsulated (M4) probiotic bacteria do not substantially alter the overall sensory characteristics of quarg cheese and microencapsulation helps to enhance the survival of probiotic bacteria in quarg cheese during storage. Top Keywords Quarg cheese, Probiotics, Microencapsulation, Free cells, Sensory attributes. Top |