A Model for Probiotic Fermented Food Production

Abstract

The past few decades have demonstrated how important the human gut microbiota is for human health. Because of this, the use of microbiota-modulating dietary interventions such as probiotics and prebiotics is growing in popularity amongst consumers, food manufacturers, healthcare professionals, and regulators. In particular, there is interest in making a wider variety of foods with probiotic properties. However, as a solution for food manufacturers to produce fermented foods compatible with the “probiotic foods” label definition, we used an impedometric analysis to identify the survival and growth capacity of microbial strains in specific environmental contexts. Using this approach, manufacturers can more effectively select the strains with the highest growth rate for use in probiotic fermented food production trials. To provide a proof of concept, we tested three Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus probiotic strains growing in milk at different temperatures. We quantified the probiotic’s growth using species-specific primers and quantitative real-time PCR. Overall, our results demonstrate the feasibility of this type of model in facilitating the production of probiotic fermented foods by allowing manufacturers to select strains able to grow under specific conditions. Our model can be used to develop, increase, and target the beneficial health properties of a multitude of fermented foods produced worldwide.