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Research on lactic acid bacteria has confirmed how specific strains possess probiotic properties and impart unique sensory characteristics to food products. The use of probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in many food products, thus confers various health benefits to humans when they are frequently consumed in adequate amounts. The advent of functional food or the concept of nutraceuticals objectively places more emphasis on seeking alternatives to limit the use of medications thus promoting the regular consumption of fermented foods. Probiotic use has thus been recommended to fulfill the role of nutraceuticals, as no side effects on human health have been reported. Probiotics and lactic acid bacteria can boost and strengthen the human immune system, thereby increasing its resistance against numerous disease conditions. Consumer safety and confidence in dairy and fermented food products and the desire of the food industry to meet the sensory and health needs of consumers, has thus increased the demand for probiotic starter cultures with exceptional performance coupled with health benefiting properties. The potential of probiotic cultures and lactic acid bacteria in many industrial applications including fermented food products generally affects product characteristics and also serves as health-promoting foods for humans. The alleviation of lactose intolerance in many populations globally has been one of the widely accepted health claims attributed to probiotics and lactic acid bacteria, although many diseases have been treated with probiotic lactic acid bacteria and have been proven with scientific and clinical studies. The aim of our review was to present information related to lactic acid bacteria, the new classification and perspectives on industrial applications with a special emphasis on food safety and human health.

a b s t r a c tInteresterification of palm stearin (PS) with liquid vegetable oils could yield a good solid fat stock that may impart desirable physical properties, because PS is a useful source of vegetable hard fat, providing b 0 stable solid fats. Dietary ingestion of olive oil (OO) has been reported to have physiological benefits such as lowering serum cholesterol levels. Fat blends, formulated by binary blends of palm stearin and olive oil in different ratios, were subjected to chemical interesterification with sodium methoxide. The original and interesterified blends were examined for fatty acid and triacylglycerol composition, melting point, solid fat content (SFC) and consistency. Interesterification caused rearrangement of triacylglycerol species, reduction of trisaturated and triunsaturated triacylglycerols content and increase in diunsaturated-monosaturated triacylglycerols of all blends, resulting in lowering of melting point and solid fat content. The incorporation of OO to PS reduced consistency, producing more plastic blends. The mixture and chemical interesterification allowed obtaining fats with various degrees of plasticity, increasing the possibilities for the commercial use of palm stearin and olive oil.

a b s t r a c tThe main goal of the present research effort was to evaluate the physical-chemical properties of blends of lard and soybean oil following enzymatic interesterification catalyzed by an immobilized lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosa (LipozymeÔ TL IM). Lipase-catalyzed interesterification produced new triacylglycerols that changed the physical-chemical properties of the fat blends under study. Solid fat content (31.3 vs 31.5 g/100 g), consistency (104.7 vs 167.6 kPa), crystallized area (0.6 vs 11.8) and softening point (31.8 vs 32.2 C) of lard increased after interesterification, and this was mostly due to the increase of SSS (saturated) þ SSU (disaturated-monounsaturated) triacylglycerols. These contents (SSU þ SSS) increased in lard after interesterification from 42.9 to 46.7 g/100 g. The interesterified blends exhibited lower values for the physical properties when compared with their counterparts before enzymatic interesterification. The interesterification of blends of lard with soybean oil increased the amounts of UUU (triunsaturated) and SSS triacylglycerols and reduced the amounts of UUS (diunsaturated-monosaturated) triacylglycerols. The interesterified blends of lard and soybean oil demonstrated physical properties and chemical composition similar to human milk fat and they could be used for the production of a human milk fat substitute.

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