Viability of Encapsulated Bacteria using Gel Particle and Foam-Mat Drying with k-carrageenan/Chitosan and i-carrageenan/ Chitosan

The study aimed to determine the effect of using a mixture of kappa-carrageenan/chitosan and iota carrageenan/chitosan as encapsulating materials for Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum on viability, encapsulation yield, moisture content, and water activity (A_W) f microcapsules. The research was conducted using an experimental laboratory design, and the data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Least Significant Difference (LSD) test with Microsoft Excel. The results showed that the use of chitosan with a degree of deacetylation of 83.5% in the i-carrageenan/chitosan mixture yielded the highest viability of B. bifidum. The combination of i-carrageenan and chitosan at a concentration ratio of 0.5%:1.5% produced probiotic viability for the mixed culture (L. acidophilus + B. bifidum) of 6.56 log CFU/g, while the viability of B. bifidum alone reached 6.70 log CFU/g. The highest encapsulation yield for the mixed probiotics was 72.85%. The water content of the microcapsules for the mixed probiotics was 8.96%, with a water activity (A_W) of 0.63. These results suggest that further studies should investigate processing factors to optimize probiotic viability.