Almond Cheese Analog Fortified with Microencapsulated Lactiplantibacillus Plantarum DSM 1954: Evaluation of Viability and Quality Parameters Using Different PlantBased Proteins

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the viability of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum DSM1954 encapsulated using plant-based proteins as novel coating materials, when supplemented into almond cheese-analog during storage. Freeze-dried Lb. plantarum strains that were both microencapsulated and non-microencapsulated were added to cheese-analog. A water-in-oil emulsion method was used with a variety of plant-based proteins, including soy, pea, and potato. Microbial analysis, chemical composition, color analysis were conducted on the cheese-analogs. Microencapsulation was successfully achieved with pea and soy proteins, demonstrating encapsulation efficiencies of 85.8% and 86.6%, respectively; however, potato protein concentrate failed to form microcapsules. The viability of microencapsulated cells was higher than 10 log CFU/g during storage. The survivability of Lb. plantarum under acidic conditions was observed to be 0.85 log reduced in microencapsulated cells, whereas 3 log reduction was determined in non-microencapsulated cells. According to the SEM analysis, the diameter of the microencapsulated cells was found to be 0.8-1.5 mu m. Both microencapsulated and non-microencapsulated probiotic cells maintained viability above the probiotic threshold (> 6 log CFU/g) in cheese-analogs during storage. Although plant-based microencapsulation slightly affected the appearance by causing a darker color in cheese-analogs, this novel approach provides a promising alternative for enhancing probiotic stability in plant-based dairy alternatives.