Probiotic foods

A Nutraceutical is any substance that is a food or a part of a food and provides medical or health benefits. Nutraceutical products are also known as functional foods. Inulin-containing foods have long been known to be beneficial for health. Inulin is fermented in the colon, selectively altering the microflora present (Gibson et al., 1995). Bifidobacteria, a genus considered to have health-promoting properties, displaces a number of undesirable microbes. Inulin is a component of many probiotic food supplements (see Section 6.1.3). 

A move away from antibiotics has therefore started. Bans and restrictions on antibiotics in animal feed have been implemented in many countries, while consumer demand for meat produced without the use of growth promoters has risen. However, there is a problem effective alternatives to antibiotics have been slow in reaching the market. Probiotic food supplements are seen as one solution to this problem (Flickinger et al., 2003). 

In both instances, the product is usually cooled throughout storage, an important parameter that allows cultures of good bacteria to be added. This is the best format for getting your probiotic food value from fruit products (probiotic means that it contains added healthful bacteria to complement the billions already existing in your intestinal system). Two major manufacturers offer products worth sampling ... 

Ross, R.P., Desmond, C., Fitzgerald, G.R, and Stanton, C. Overcoming the technological hurdles in the development of probiotic foods, /. Appl. Microbiol, 98,1410, 2005. 

Mattila-Sandholm, T., Myllarinen, R, Crittenden, R., Mogensen, G., Fonden, R., Saarela, M., 2002. Technological challenges for future probiotic foods. Int. Dairy J. 12(2-3), 173-182. 

Technological challenges for future probiotic foods. Int. Dairy J. 12 173-182. 

Although probiotics are widely consumed as dietary supplements, the focus of the present chapter is on fermented probiotic foods. Most commercially available probiotics belong to the genera Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains from other genera are being marketed as well, but these rarely find application in fermented foods and will thus not be discussed here. 

The use of probiotic LAB, especially Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium spp., as starter cultures, alone or in combination with traditional starter cultures in various fermentation processes, has been explored for different fermentation food products. Formulated fermented probiotic food may present consumers with a healthy dietary component at a considerabley low cost (Goldin, 1998). Furthermore, it was reported that LAB may contribute to microbiological safety and/or provide one or more technological, nutritional and organoleptic advantages to a fermented product, through production of ethanol, acetic acid, aroma compounds, exopolysaccharides, bacteriocins and several enzymes (Leroy De Vuyst, 2004). 

Yeasts are eukaryotie single-cellular organisms, which are not visible to the bare eye. Some yeasts, eommon in many sectors of the food industry, belong to the order Saccharomycetales, such as baking yeasts Sac-charomyces cerevisiae). Therefore, the term ys sts is often used as a S5monym of S. cerevisiae. Other Saccharomycetales, sueh as Saccharo-myces boulardii, are utilized for purposes of probiotic food production. 

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