Viability of microencapsulated and non-microencapsulated Lactobacilli in a commercial beverage Hadi Pourjafar a, *, Negin Noori b , Hasan Gandomi b , Afshin Akhondzadeh Basti b , Fereshteh Ansari c,d,e a Department of Food Sciences, Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran b Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Iran c Research Center for Evidence-Based Medicine, Health Management and Safety Promotion Research Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran d Iranian EBM Centre: A Joanna Briggs Institute Affiliated Group, Iran e Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran. Iran A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 6 September 2019 Received in revised form 19 January 2020 Accepted 5 February 2020 Keywords: Microencapsulation Probiotics Lactobacilli Doogh Alginate-Chitosan Eudragit S100 A B S T R A C T The survival rate of free and encapsulated L. acidophilus and L. rhamnosus into Doogh beverage and simulated gastrointestinal conditions during 42-day were studied. Microencapsulation considerably protected both L. acidophilus and L. rhamnosus in Doogh beverage storage and in gastrointestinal conditions. Microencapsulation provided better protection to L. acidophilus than to L. rhamnosus during Doogh storage. In beverages containing the free form of bacteria, pH and acidity changes were greater than those of microencapsulated and control groups. More activity of the free probiotic bacteria (during a 42-day period especially after 21-day) produced more acid and metabolites inside the product, thereby reducing the organoleptic properties scores, However, acidity, pH and organoleptic characteristics of Doogh containing microencapsulated bacteria did not change considerably. In conclusion, this study suggests that the encapsulation and double coating of L. acidophilus and L. rhamnosus can increase the viability of them in Doogh beverage and in simulated GI conditions. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 1. Introduction Probiotics are live microorganisms that they provide health advantageous when consumed, commonly via improving or refurbishing the gastrointestinal (GI) flora [1,2]. These micro- organisms via several identified and unidentified mechanisms increase human metabolism, relieve chronic intestinal inflamma- tory and functional disorders, infections, allergy, and also detoxification of several toxins like aflatoxins in products [3–7]. Foods containing probiotic bacteria fall within the “functional foods’’ class and these foods should contain at least 10 7 cfu/g probiotic bacteria and consumed at levels higher than 100 g/day to have helpful effects on health [8]. Different dairy products have long been used as carriers for probiotic bacteria [9–11]. Neverthe- less, there are still problems encountered with the application of probiotic bacteria in dairy foods; one of them is survival of the probiotics in dairy foods and during GI transit to the site of action in the human gut. Cold stress, exposure to acid and bile and osmotic and oxidative stress may reduce the number of probiotic bacteria below the effective threshold ([12–16]). Different techniques are available for improving the survival of probiotics and microencapsulation is one of the best and most outstanding techniques. This technique can be effective in both product storage as well as GI condition [14,17]. The majority of studies conclude to the benefit of microencapsulation on raising the continued existence of the probiotics in dissimilar manufacture techniques and GI undesirable circumstances ([12,18–21]). Micro- encapsulation via calcium alginate (a liner anionic heteropolysac- charide) is an efficient technique for the immobilization of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The simplicity of handling, its non-toxic nature, and its low cost have made it one of the most widely used techniques for microencapsulation [8,22]. However, there are limitations for using alginate because of its low stability in the presence of chelating agents and in acidic conditions below pH 2. Chitosan (a liner cationic polysaccharide) is able to improve the strength of alginate beads and develop survivability of probiotic microorganisms in undesirable situations. Chitosan can be used as a coat to support micro-coverage over other negative-charge micro-covers [23–26]. Eudragit (Eu) S100 (an anionic copolymer of methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate that it is soluble in pH 7, but is non- * Corresponding author. E-mail address: pourjafarhadi59@ut.ac.ir (H. Pourjafar). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.btre.2020.e00432 2215-017X/© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Biotechnology Reports 25 (2020) e00432 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biotechnology Reports journal homepage: www.else vie r.com/locat e/btre