Membrane Emulsification as an Emerging Method for Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG® Encapsulation

Abstract

Techniques capable of producing small-sized probiotic microcapsules with high encapsulation yields are of industrial and scientific interest. In this study, an innovative membrane emulsification system was investigated in the production of microcapsules containing Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG ® (Lr), sodium alginate (ALG), and whey protein (WPI), rice protein (RPC), or pea protein (PPC) as encapsulating agents. The microcapsules were characterized by particle size distribution, optical microscopy, encapsulation yield, morphology, water activity, hygroscopicity, thermal properties, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and probiotic survival during in vitro simulation of gastrointestinal conditions. The innovative encapsulation technique resulted in microcapsules with diameters varying between 18 and 29 μm, and encapsulation yields > 93%. Combining alginate and whey, rice, or pea protein improved encapsulation efficiency and thermal properties. The encapsulation provided resistance to gastrointestinal fluids, resulting in high probiotic viability at the end of the intestinal phase (> 7.18 log CFU g −1 ). The proposed encapsulation technology represents an attractive alternative to developing probiotic microcapsules for future food applications. Graphical Abstract Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11947-023-03099-w.

Drying of probiotics to enhance the viability during preparation, storage, food application, and digestion: A review

“…Camelo‐Silva et al. (2023) applied a novel membrane emulsification method to produce probiotic microcapsules with a dimension between 18 and 29 μm by extruding suspensions containing L. rhamnosus GG, alginate, and whey, rice, or pea protein through membrane pores into a continuous oil phase. The resulting microcapsules were freeze‐dried and showed >93% encapsulation yield and more than 3 log CFU/g higher survival than free cells after simulated GI conditions.…”