Probiotic Cream: Viability of Probiotic Bacteria and Chemical Characterization

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of probiotic cultures on the chemical properties of cream. Cream was produced with no addition of cultures (non-probiotic), or supplemented with Bifidobacterium lactis (BL), Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA), or Lactobacillus rhamnosus (LR). All chemical characterization were affected by the probiotic bacteria strain in the cream. Although the viability of the probiotic bacteria declined throughout the 22 day-storage, the shelf life study showed that cultures retained counts higher than 6 log cfu g(-1), which constitutes a good vehicle for delivering probiotic bacteria. This work has shown that the chemical properties of cream are influenced by the starter culture type. More research is needed to evaluate the unique microbological and physico-chemical properties of cream supplemented with probiotic bacteria. Practical AplicationsCream may have the potential for use as a probiotic carrier because it provides an excellent environment for probiotic bacteria, with the added advantage of having nutritional value. There has been very limited amount of work on probiotic cream, more research is needed to improve the fermentation process, sensory acceptance, chemical properties, and other functional properties.