Microencapsulation for gastrointestinal delivery of probiotic bacteria

Microencapsulation (ME) offers the potential to reduce the adverse effects on probiotic viability in the food and gastrointestinal (GI) tract environments as well as during food or nutraceutical processing, storage, and consumption. ME separates bacterial cells from their environment until they are released. This chapter discusses the current knowledge and techniques used in the ME of probiotic micro-organisms to enhance the performance of these organisms during fermentation, downstream processing, and utilization in commercial products. The techniques include ME in gel particles using polymers, the extrusion technique, the emulsion technique, and spray-drying, spray-coating and spray-chilling technologies. Controlled release of bacteria is a critical benefit of ME. It is beneficial for encapsulated probiotic bacteria to be released in the small intestine where the Peyer's patches exist to activate the immune system. Potential applications of encapsulated probiotics include yoghurt, cheese and frozen desserts.