Chocolate as Prebiotic and Probiotic Delivery Vehicle

Abstract

In today’s world, food, besides their basic role in nutrition, has to meet additional aspects such as maintenance of health and to counteract diseases. Scientific research refers to health benefits of probiotics and prebiotics in human nutrition. An increasing demand of consumers for foodstuffs supplemented with live probiotic bacteria, gave rise to studies on the development of foods with these microorganisms. However, the possible applications of probiotics in non-dairy food products have not studied well. This study explores the new product, chocolate as a delivery vehicle for pre and probiotics. Probiotic chocolates were made using microencapsulated Lactobacillus strains along with fruit pulp to serve as prebiotics. The confirmatory tests for probiotics, sensory properties and shelf life were studied. The results revealed that the probiotic chocolate prepared with the incorporation of fruit extract like Passion fruit and Strawberry fruit rated the maximum by the consumers through sensory evaluation and the product has shelf-life of twenty days at room temperature without losing any organoleptic properties