Cereals like barley are now increasingly being explored for their application as ingredients for improving the functional properties in diverse foods. Cereal-based /cereal containing probiotic functional foods are becoming increasingly popular owing to their potential health benefits. Barley is considered as a rich source of dietary fiber, phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals. The presence of β-glucan in whole grain barley has been largely credited for its health benefits. The phytochemicals in barley exhibit strong antioxidant, antiproliferative, and cholesterol lowering abilities, which are potentially useful in lowering the risk of certain diseases. Barley, due to its nutritional contents are considered good substrate for the growth of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) /probiotic bacteria. Several studies have demonstrated the fermentation of barley by LAB. Hence barley can be a good substrate to produce functional fermented foods using lactic acid bacteria. The content of dietary fibre in barley can serve as prebiotics for the probiotic bacteria and thus can add to the functional value of fermented foods. In addition to this barley proteins are said to be good candidates for value-added application as food supplements owing to their functional properties.

Vinegar contains about 5% acetic acid in water, varying amounts of fixed fruit acids, colouring matter, salts and a few other fermentation products which impart characteristic flavour and aroma to the product. Vinegar traditionally has been used as a food preservative. Vinegar production methods could range from traditional methods employing wooden casks (Orleans Process) and surface culture (Generator Process) to submerged fermentation. Vinegar is the product made from the conversion of ethyl alcohol to acetic acid by a genus of bacteria Acetobacter. Many technical devices have been developed to improve the industrial production of vinegar. Generally, these improvements increase the speed of the transformation of ethanol into acetic acid in the presence of acetic acid bacteria. In this review a detailed description on vinegar production, methods of production, different substrates and microorganisms used for its production, and the chemistry of vinegar is presented.

Distillery spent wash is the unwanted residual liquid waste generated during alcohol production and the pollution caused by it has become a critical environmental issue. Despite standards imposed on effluent quality, untreated or partially treated effluent very often finds access to watercourses. The distillery wastewater with its characteristic unpleasant odour poses a serious threat to the water quality in several regions around the globe. In this study, experiments were carried out to investigate the production of biogas from distillery spent wash by using an anaerobic digestion process with Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR). The experiment was carried out to calculate the efficiency of the production of biogas. The digester was operated with feed of high Brix Spentwash. The digester shows stable performance with production of biogas.

Cereal grains are known to be one of the most important dietary resources of nutrition in all over the world. Cereal are considered inferior in terms of nutritional and sensorial quality as compared to other foods. Several approaches have been recommended to enhance the nutritional qualities of cereals, however, the best one is fermentation. Fermentation, had been reported to improve sensory and nutritional quality of cereals. Generally, natural lactic fermentation of cereal results in a decrease in carbohydrates content together with increase in some amino acids and B-group vitamins. Further, fermentation results in reduction of antinutritional factors, leading to an increment in mineral availability and protein and starch digestibility. Traditionally, cereal based fermented foods are prepared from most commonly available cereals grains using natural fermentation involving mixed cultures of yeasts, bacteria and fungi. Several of them are used as side dish, breakfast and light meal, and main foods. The microbiology of several of this commonly consumed cereal based fermented foods is quite complex and unknown. Probiotic microorganisms are well known for their multipurpose health beneficial effects. Mostly dairy products had been used as substrate for probiotics for years. Recent times cereals are gaining popularity as a probiotic delivery vehicle due to their inherent attributes. Cereal grains can serve as a suitable carrier matrix of probiotic cultures by supporting the growth and survival of organisms. The current review focuses on some traditional cereal based fermented foods, potential of cereal grains to use as growth medium of probiotic cultures and finally, newly developed non-dairy probiotic food products.

Global scientific pursuits are percolating towards a common goal of finding a solution for efficient utilization of existing resources, developing low cost effective technologies for making the foods more nutritional and preventing losses due to biological, microbiological, chemical, biochemical, mechanical, physical and physiological factors. One of the possible approaches in finding solutions to these problems is exploiting the full potential of fermentation technology. Fermentation is one of the oldest methods of food preservation known to mankind (Prajapati and Nair, 2003). In India, the Rigveda (1500BC) and Sukla Yajurveda have texts mentioning the preparation of Soma (Plant juice) and Sura(Wine/beer) while curd finds its mention in Yajurved and Charaka Samhita. Traditional sour milk products were primarily produced to prolong the shelf-life of milk and for pleasant sensory properties. Fermented milk products got a whole new reputation when Elie Metchnikoff in 1907 hypothesized that replacing or diminishing the number of ‘putrefactive’ bacteria in the gut with lactic acid bacteria could normalize bowel health and prolong life. After more than half a century the term probiotics was coined to reflect Metchnikoff’s idea, much progress has been made since in terms of the fermentation of dairy products.Probiotics are proven effective in gastrointestinal diseases along with successful reports in treating allergy, cancer, diabetes to depression.Sales in Western Europe grew to 8 billion U.S. dollars by 2014. The most developed markets for probiotic foods were Europe and Japan, accounting for more than half of total sales.The Indian probiotic scenario is expected to to grow at a CAGR of 25% during 2014-2019 as reported by the Dairy Industry in India. At this point it is imperative to develop and promote indigenous probiotic strains and make serious efforts to explore the novel functional physiological properties of the enormous Indian microbial diversity.

Microencapsulation is one of the promising technologies to enhance the viability of probiotics microorganisms in functional foods. It also helps to extend the shelf life of many fermented food products. Lactic acid bacteria were microencapsulated within the concept of the immobilized cell technology (ICT) from many years for continuous fermentation processes and improved biomass production. But, these microcapsules are artificially created to support the growth of the probiotics and provide protection from harsh external environments. For microencapsulation of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, polysaccharides like alginate, gelan, carrageenan, chitosan and starch are the most commonly used materials. Emulsion, extrusion, spray drying, and adhesion to starch are some of the commonly applied methods for microencapsulation. However, there are still significant hurdles with respect to currently available methods for probiotic cell microencapsulation. This is mainly due to the fact that important characteristics of microcapsules based on ICT appear to be in conflict with the requirements arising from an application of probiotic microcapsules in food products, with particle size and inappropriate matrix characteristics being the most prominent ones. The aim of this review is to give a critical overview of the current approaches regarding the microencapsulation of probiotic microorganisms for food applications, especially in fermented milk products and to report on emerging developments.

The main criterion for food selection is colour. Colours of the commercial products play a vital role to attract the consumers and also represent the quality of the products. Some synthetic colours are detrimental to human health and hence food industry is looking for natural pigment. Rhodotorula is a carotenoid biosynthetic yeast producing yellow or orange red colonies. The carotenoid pigment extracted from Rhodotorula minuta grown in coconut water as natural medium incubated at 300C for 3-5 days period showed stability at acidic, neutral and alkaline PH. Heating the pigment to lab pasteurization (630C/30min), boiling (1000C/10min) and sterilization (1210C/15min) reduced the intensity of extra and intracellular pigment by 15 to 20 per cent. Out of both intracellular behaved better than extracellular pigment of Rhodotorula minuta.

Bile tolerance, bile deconjugation and cholesterol reducing properties of five strains of lactobacilli, viz. PD2, PC27, PSC6, PH5 and PFC21 were tested with a view to select culture for conducting in vivo feeding trial for hyperlipemic mice. Strain PD2 was found to be most bile tolerant, followed by PH5, PC27, PSC6 and PFC21. The strain PD2 released maximum amount of free cholic acid (2.37 mM) from sodium taurocholate. With respect to cholesterol assimilation, PH5 showed a maximum reduction of 76.85 %. Overall two strains among five gave a good performance in all these in vitro tests and hence, is recommended for in vivo feeding experiments.

Nata produced by Gluconacetobacter xylinum is a pure form of cellulose without lignin and hemicelluloses unlike plant cellulose. The production of bacterial cellulose or nata is receiving great attention due to its wide range of application both in food and pharmaceutical industries. However, the yield is comparatively very low and the commercially used carbon sources such as glucose are relatively expensive. In this study, a pilot scale bacterial cellulose production was carried out in a 5 L capacity model jar fermentor using G. oboediens (sju-1) Acc. No. KF164613 in calcium alginate incorporated cashew apple juice (CAJ) medium. Fermentation kinetics of bacterial cellulose production was evaluated during the course of reaction. The population increase with a gradual decrease in pH was noticed up to 16th day of inoculation. Initially the population was 0.002 × 1011cfu mL-1, which increased to 13.24 and 25.21 × 1011 cfu mL-1 on 8th and 10th day, respectively. By 16th day of incubation, the population reached the maximum of 34.12 × 1011 cfu ml-1 and the pH of the medium dropped to 4.5. Bacterial cellulose produced per 100 g of the substrate (Yp/s) was 1.62 ± 0.01g, while it was found to be 1.30 ± 1.11g. 100g-1 of cells (Yp/x). With respect to total sugars, the initial concentration of 18.00 g.L-1 dropped to 16.14, 10.88 and 9.14 g.L-1 on 2nd, 6th and 8th day, respectively. On the 16th day when the population of bacterial cells was at the maximum, the total sugar content dropped drastically to 2.18 g L-1. Due to the incorporation of calcium alginate in medium, the yield of nata-de-cashew increased and the mass production was found to be easier compared to the flask culture. Hence, it is concluded that, addition of calcium alginate to CAJ medium under static condition, inoculated with G. oboediens (sju-1) NCBI GenBank Acc. No. KF164613 in a modified jar fermentor could increase the production of nata.

The millets are called as nutricereals due to the availability of beneficial nutrients. The fermented millet gruels prepared from P. miliare, S. italica, P. scrobiculatum and E. frumantacea. and the millet gruels were analysed for the Short chain fatty acids (SCFA). The anticancer efficacy of the fermented millet gruels also investigated in vitro in the Human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7. P. miliare fermented gruel showed the acetic acid in the levels of 0.89 μM, lactic acid as 1.76 μM, propionic acid in the levels of 1.82 μM and butyric acids in the levels of 10.58 μM. The fermented S.italica gruel showed acetic, lactic and butyric acid levels of 1.12 μM, 2.41 μM and 42.85 μM respectively. The fermented P.scrobiculatum gruel showed the acetic acid of 1.04 μM, lactic acid of 0.89 μM, proponic acid of 2.26 μM and butyric acid of 3.09 μM. The fermented E. frumantacea also showed high levels of propionic acid (8.93 μM) and 2.7 μM of acetic acid. The anticancer efficacy also shown the S. italica fermented gruel have the high potential against the breast cancer cell line, MCF-7 compared to the other fermented millet gruel. It may be due to the high butyric acid content of the S. italica fermented gruel.

Northeast India is the eastern most region of India. It comprises the eight states Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. This review reflects the indigenously prepared fermented rice beverages by different tribes from different states of North-east India. Many researchers have studied on traditionally prepared rice beverages but limited information is available on commercialization of beverages like Sake of Japan. At present, traditional fermented rice beverages are prepared for local consumption only at house-hold level without much consideration about Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Studies have shown that fermented rice beverages are rich source of nutrients and have therapeutic values which help to prevent diarrhoea and diabetes. It is generally prepared by adding varieties of medicinal herbs in their starter culture inoculums which are also rich in micro-organism like yeasts, moulds and lactic acid bacteria. These micro-organisms results in the formation of alcohol which is consumed by the local tribal communities without much knowledge about its quality and shelf life of the product. Scientific and systematic approach would help to standardise high quality stable product with increased shelf life and help the tribal communities economically produce it for their livelihood.

Guava (Psidium gujava) is a popular tropical fruit, native to South America. Brazil is the top most producer of this fruit packed with promising chemical and biological features. Guava leaves are rich in phenolic compounds, isoflavonoids, gallic acid, catechin, epicathechin, rutin, naringenin, kaempferol. The pulp contains ascorbic acid, carotenoids (lycopene, β-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin). The seeds, skin and barks are rich in glycosides, carotenoids and phenolic compounds. Hepatoprotective, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, anti-cancer, antimicrobial, anti-hyperglycemic, analgesic, endothelial progenitor cells, anti-stomachache and anti-diarrheal are the biological properties which are reflected by different plant parts of Guava. Guava, inspite of having such promising features, has limitations for usage because of its highly perishable nature. So, many attempts have been taken for making food products using different parts of guava fruit with focus toward enhancing the shelf life also. The aim of this review is to discuss the physicochemical, phytochemical properties and recent functional foods made from guava fruits.

Weissella species are Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, catalase-negative, obligate heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria. They inhabit nutrient rich environments and can be isolated from a variety of sources and different fermented foods. They possess functional and technological attributes which can be of use in the safety, nutritional and sensory characteristics of foods. Among the members of this genus, Weissella cibaria and Weissella confusa have been described as high producers of exopolysaccharides and oligosaccharides, and hence exhibit texturizing properties. Several Weissella species isolated from food and animal sources are reported to possess various health promoting effects like cholesterol reduction, antioxidant activity, immunomodulatory effect, oral health promoting effects and anticancer effects.

‘Bhapa dahi’ meaning steamed dahi/yogurt, is a popular Bengali fermented dairy based delicacy popular in West Bengal. Spices and their extract have been used as food additives to improve the flavor, aroma and even extend the shelf-life of food. Besides these, the spice extract might confer antimicrobial properties and exert therapeutic virtues too. Three types of spice essential oils viz. cinnamon, clove and cumin were tried out as adjunct flavour in mango flavoured Bhapa dahi and its influence on the microbial quality with emphasis on Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) count and shelf-life of product was studied. It is recommended to utilize clove oil at level of 0.04 % by weight of the base mix (viz., chakka and sweetened condensed milk) to prepare mango flavoured Bhapa dahi. Clove oil was superior over cinnamon (@ 0.02 % by weight) and cumin oil (@ 0.02 % by weight) as flavour adjunct in mango flavoured Bhapa dahi. Use of such additive not only enhanced the sensory score of the fermented product, but also enhanced its shelf-life by about 14 days (vs. control product) when packaged in polypropylene pack and stored under refrigerated condition; the growth of LAB was somewhat restricted in the fermented product during refrigerated storage.

Beetroot, a very nutritious vegetable, used for human consumption in raw and cooked form is also a potential source of saponins, betacyanines, betanin and polyphenols. Due to presence of betalains, the natural color pigments, beetroot is also used in food industry as source of natural color in various food products. Besides this, beetroot is also having therapeutic properties such as anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective and anti-mutagenic properties. Therefore, a functional lassi (stirred Indian yoghurt) supplemented with beetroot juice was developed in the present study. Beetroot with red bulb was procured from local market of mehsana, washed, peeled and shredded before subjecting it to blanching and roasting treatments. Based on sensory evaluation, the lassi supplemented with blanched juice got significantly higher (p<0.05) scores than the roasted one. Further, the physicochemical and anti-oxidative properties of the developed product were also evaluated and compared with control.

Yogurt is a fermented dairy product, having several health benefits. Yogurt starter culture consists of a blend of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp bulgaricus. Today, there are more than 700 yogurt and cheese products found in Indian cuisine. Consumption of yogurt imparts various health beneficial effects to the host by promoting bone health, improving diet quality, reducing the incidence of chronic diseases such as obesity and cardio vascular disease. Yogurt also serves as a vehicle for fortification of several essential nutrients including protein, calcium, potassium, phosphorus and vitamins B2 and B12. Yogurt properties can be enhanced by the addition or treatment with various additives. Addition of minerals, herbs or their active components like oils could be an effective strategy to improve functionality of milk and milk products with respect to the health benefits, food safety and bio preservation. Recent developments in this regard have been thoroughly discussed.

Complexing curcumin with β-cyclodextrin increases water solubility and thus functional activity of curcumin. However, application of this complex in traditional fermented products has rarely been explored for curcumin delivery. The present study was undertaken to enhance the curcumin supplementation in lassi by using β-cyclodextrin. Starter culture’s activity was not affected by curcumin addition. β-cyclodextrin addition increased curcumin retention in lassi from 50 to 90%. Curcumin (@ 250 ppm) and its conjugation with β-cyclodextrin at 1:4 ratio was found optimum for supplementation in lassi. The developed product had a shelf-life of 20 days at 4±1 °C and 90-95 % RH, when packaged in low density polyethylene pouches or in poly ethylene terephthalate bottles, whereas the control lassi had storage stability of 12 days.

One of the less known Pasta filata cheese in Indian context is Burrata cheese, an Italian origin cheese popular in Southern Italy. Burrata is preferably consumed with olive oil and serves as an alternative to Caprese salad. This cheese variety is usually made from cow milk and are produced in two ways viz., artisanal method and industrial method. The product consists of a double structure viz., composed of a ‘bag’ made of mozzarella paste and an inner core ‘stracciatella’; the latter is a blend of double cream and Mozzarella cheese strips. The cheese is characterized by being rindless, milky white with a smooth, shiny surface made up of fibrous elastic structure. The cheese is spherical, characterized by a head and a short neck and is rich in milk fat (60.0 % fat-on-dry matter). The high moisture (aw 0.95 to 0.97) and pH (6.1-6.2) favours microbial growth restricting its shelf life, even under refrigerated conditions. Modified atmospheric packaging has enabled shelf life extension of cheese. Psychrotrophic microorganisms such as Pseudomonas and Enterobacteriaceae species are responsible for the spoilage of burrata cheese. Efforts have been underway to produce reduced-fat Burrata cheese to obviate the high calorie content and appropriate means to extend its shelf life.

In the era of reduction in sugar consumption, availability of suitable alternative sweeteners is highly desirable. But to find an ideal substitute of sucrose remained destined dream. Tagatose is now is emerging as very promising substitute of sucrose for use as a sweetener. Therefore, in present study suitability of tagatose evaluated as a sweetener in Lassi. The findings of the study suggested that Lassi prepared by substituting sucrose by tagatose or its blend with sucrose or fructose was very well acceptable in sensory evaluation. Tagatose was able to substitute sucrose in Lassi without any changing the process parameter. Proximate composition, physicochemical properties and microbial counts of the sucrose substituted Lassi were more or less similar to corresponding products prepared by using sucrose as a sweetener. Shelf-life of the sucrose substituted Lassi was also similar to corresponding Lassi prepared by using sucrose as a sweetener.

Probiotic potential of three cultures of Lactobacillus namely L.fermentum (M2), L.fermentum (M7) and L.paracasei (M11) were carried out by performing various in vitro tests such as bile salt hydrolase activity, bile salt deconjugation ability, cholesterol assimilation ability and antioxidative activity (ABTS method). M7 and M11 showed positive bile salt hydrolase activity. M2, M7 and M11 have the ability to deconjugate bile salt and M11 culture exhibited for the highest deconjugation of bile salt (616.25μg/mL). These three cultures were able to survive in MRS broth containing 0.2% sodium thioglycolate and 0.3% sodium taurocholate (conjugated bile salt). Antioxidant activity was also evaluated among these Lactobacillus cultures and found in the range of 46.55% to 78.66%. But, these three cultures were very poor to assimilate the cholesterol. This study indicated that L. paracasei (M11)was more potent than other cultures.

The study is on isolation and characterization of lactic acid bacteria from fermented food samples of Garo Hills through Foldscope and thereafter study of the probiotic potentiality of the strains and finally production of value-added functional yogurt. The microbiological analysis was done using foldscope leading to isolation of 51 strains from a total of 15 fermented food samples. Biochemical characterization of the isolates for the confirmation of genus and species through sugar fermentation pattern using API kit led to the isolation of four strains- Lactobacillus brevis FJWJi, Lactobacillus pentosus RBCi, Lactobacillus fermentum FRWGv and Lactobacillus delbrueckii RBWGii, selected on the basis of their coagulating efficiency in milk medium. Probiotic attributes of the selected isolates were determined. The isolates could survive high pH conditions of pH2 and pH3 with viability of log 4.47 CFU/ml by Lactobacillus pentosus RBCi and tolerate 0.5-2% of bile salt with viability of log 6.51 CFU/ml by Lactobacillus brevis FJWJi. The isolates could hydrolyse bile salt but zone of precipitation was absent possibly due to the source of isolation. The isolates were susceptible to most of the antibiotics except for Nalidixic acid and Vancomycin. The cellular auto aggregation percentage for the isolates ranged from 63% to 27% and Lactobacillus brevis FJWJi showed the highest cell surface hydrophobicity of 26%. Therefore, the isolates possess the potentiality of probiotics. The four isolates were used to develop functional cow milk yogurt and storage study was done thereafter. Samples of Treatment 3 had the highest acceptance, especially on Day 3 based on the sensory analysis.

β-galactosidase is an enzyme which is highly important in dairy industry. The purpose of the enzyme is the hydrolysis of lactose. In addition to that it has other food applications. Due to the increasing incidence of lactose intolerance, this enzyme is gaining importance commercially. Many advancements have come with respect to this production of enzymes like biotechnological innovation and immobilization.

Buttermilk is a refreshing drink obtained in the preparation of butter from dahi or by churning cream. It is rich source of phospholipids and other constituents of MFGM. Therapeutic Properties of Buttermilk is described in Ayurveda texts. Consuming buttermilk on regular basis offers manly health benefits. Presence of MFGM has given buttermilk an added value. Cultured buttermilk also serves as a good source of bioactive peptide which can offer additional therapeutic values.

To control the over-acidification of fermented products has remained a challenging task for technologist and food processors. Standardization and optimal use of sodium benzoate and microwave treatment was carried out to control the fermentation of cauliflower pickle. The samples containing sodium benzoate at different concentrations S1 (350 ppm), S2 (450 ppm) and S3 (550 ppm) and the samples treated with microwave heat M1 (2.5 min), M2 (3.5 min) and M3 (4.5 min) for different time periods were compared with the control (C). The pH, titratable acidity (TA), texture and bacterial counts were periodically analyzed. The results showed that samples M2 and M3 showed significantly lower titratable acidity of 0.99 and 0.86, respectively and higher pH 4.76 and 4.33, respectively than the control (TA-1.45; pH- 3.70) throughout the 4 weeks of fermentation. Sample M1 showed better results for pH (4.84), acidity (0.96), texture (6.6) and overall acceptability (8.1) than other treated samples. Samples S1, S2 and S3 showed no significant difference to that of control. These results indicate that microwave treatment was able to arrest/slowdown fermentation of the pickle by inhibiting the growth of lactic acid bacteria (LABs), there by controlling the acid production.

Forty isolates of L. reuteri from human infant fecal sample were previously isolated and identified in Microbial Metabolite laboratory of Dairy Microbiology Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. An initial attempt in context to study safety of 40 strains of L. reuteri was done in terms of decarboxylation of amino acids i.e. their ability to produce biogenic amines i.e. tyramine, histamine and puteriscine,antibiotic susceptibility. Physiological investigation of all the 40 L. reuteri strains for the presence of virulence characters revealed that incidence of such traits was not present as none of the isolate was found to possess β-hemolytic activity, DNAse activity and/or gelatinase activity. All 40 Lactobacillus reuteri strains from infant feces were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing using the agar diffusion method. All of them were sensitive to erythromycin (except LR1), rifampicin (except LR25), of loxocin (except LR15 and LR20), novobiocin (except LR1, LR6, LR15, LR21, LR22, LR23, LR25, LR26, LR34, LR 36 and LR38), bacitracin, chloramphenicol and clindamycin (except LR1 and LR25), but they were resistant to polymixin B (except LR15), gentamycin (except LR21), cefazolin, ampicillin (except LR15, LR20 and LR21), kanamycin, amikacin, vancomycin, cephalothin, cefuroxime (except LR5, LR9, LR34, LR38 and LR39).All the strains were found to be safe for human use.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from faecal matter of healthy human volunteers and traditional fermented milk samples such as dahi, buttermilk, lassi were identified and characterized by morphological, API identification and 16SrRNA sequencing. Selected isolates were studied for oxalate degradation potential using colorimetric assay kit (Sigma-MAK179). One human vaginal isolate was also included in the study. Study results revealed a higher LAB count in faecal matter as compared to fermented milk products. Faecal isolates mainly belonged to genera Enterococcus and Lactobacillus. Out of the 24 isolates studied, 11 isolates gave > 30% oxalate degradation and among them, five isolates gave > 50% degradation, which included Enterococcus hirae F8, Weissella confusa F9, Enterococcus faecium M11, Lactobacillus helveticus MTCC 5463 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus MTCC 25062. Oxalate degradation ability is found to be both species and strain specific. Fermented milk isolate Enterococcus faecium M11 gave highest oxalate degradation (69.7%) followed by vaginal isolate Lactobacillus helveticus MTCC 5463 (68.8%)and faecal isolate Enterococcus hirae F8 (68.4%).

Microencapsulation can carried out by many techniques but spray drying is promising, reliable, low cost and quick technique compare to other techniques. In many functional foods L. fermentum MTCC 8711 is used as a probiotic microorganism. Spray drying microencapsulated powder of probiotic organism increase survival rate of organism during storage; increase the shelf-life of product and micro particle optimal size increase dispersion of probiotic bacteria in final product. In this paper, we have used spray drying technique with three encapsulated material viz. 11% non-fat skimmed milk solution (SKNF 11%), 20 % non-fat skimmed milk solution (SKNF 20%) and soy milk plus 10 % maltodextrin solution (SMMD 10 %). During spray drying process inlet air temperature was 110oC, outlet air temperature was70 oC and aspiration flow rate 70 Nm3/h and feed pump flow rate 1ml/min were maintained. Parameter like particle size analysis (PSA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), moister content, water activity, acid tolerance and bile salt tolerance of L. fermentum MTCC 8711 encapsulated powder and free cell without encapsulated (control) were perform. Viable count of same organism were studied at before and after spray drying process, as well as time interval of 30 days and 60 days.

Wine is one of the functional fermented foods that have many health benefits. Using fruits and herbs having medicinal and nutritional value as a substrate for wine production, the health benefits of them can be improved widely. Bhumi Amla and Indian gooseberry, which are known for its high medicinal and nutritional value, are used as the substrate here. Fermentation is carried out with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Daily monitoring was done to study the composition and characteristics of the wine. The wine produced resembled the commercial wine in terms of its composition, taste and aroma. After the fermentation period the wine was analysed for pH, total soluble solids, alcohol and antioxidant profile, post aging. The wines with Phyllanthus niruri and Emblica officinalis displayed high quantum of tannins, phenols and free radical scavenging activity. After the aging period parameters such as Antioxidant profile, Alcohol content, Total Suspended Solids (oBrix), pH, Titratable Acidity were analysed. These parameters were compared with that of commercial wine. Thus the studies showed that the pH, TSS, Tannin and Alcohol content were higher for commercial wine. But the phenol, reducing sugar and % inhibition of free radicals is higher for homemade wine.

This study was conducted on 100 adolescents residing in Delhi. They belonged to high socio-economic strata. Dietary intake patterns of subjects revealed low intake of iron rich foods. Green leafy vegetables consumption was also very low. It was also observed that 37 percent adolescents were in habit of skipping meals and 12 percent were in habit of eating junk foods daily. Mean intake of all nutrients (calories, proteins and iron was lower than RDAs. There were no economic constraints still intake of nutrients was deficient due to faulty eating habits. Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR) was not adequate in 81 percent subjects. Only 23 percent subjects were non anaemic and rest had mild or moderate anaemia. Impact of anaemia could be seen in terms of non-participation of anaemic subjects in sports in school and their feeling lethargic.

TheWest Garo Hills is one of the largest districts of the state of Meghalaya located in the western part of the State with Tura being the district headquarters. They are inhabited by tribal dwellers, the majority of whom are  Garo people whose staple cereal food is rice. Also home brewed fermented rice beverage plays an important role in the life of the rural tribal folks. This traditional beverage constitutes an integral part of their dietary culture and has strong socio-cultural importance among these ethnic people.The prowess of preparation of this beverage involves starter culture preparation using locally available medicinal plants and fermentation in earthen pots. Some rural villages where the fermented rice beverage is prepared were visited and the traditional process was observed and documented. This article reflects the expertise of the ethnic Garos’ who are unwittingly exploiting the natural microbial consortium in fermentation of this beverage.

This study presents, antimicrobial activity of bioactive peptides derived from fermentation of soy milk along with their production by Lactobacillus plantarum C2 strain. Bioactive peptides are specific fragment of protein, can be released by fermentation, upon release they may act as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antihypertensive, immunomodulatory and hypocholesterolemic activities. LP C2 showed very good growth in soy milk by increasing their count and acidity significantly, consequently pH dropped. Ultrafiltration was used for the separation of peptides and their peptide contents analyzed by OPA assay. 10kDa fraction was found high in peptide (655.128±2.95 μg/ml). Antimicrobial activity of bioactive peptide fractions was checked by agar well diffusion method and found that 5 kDa showed highest activity against all the pathogens with highest inhibition against E.coli (12±0.57) followed by S. dysenteriae (11±0.57), L. monocytogenous (10±0.57) and B. cereus (10±0.57 mm). However it was observed that unfractionated sample high in antimicrobial activity, may be due to combined effect of all the fractions.

This study was conducted to find efficacy of weight management programme on forty one adults attending weight loss clinic in Gurgaon. At baseline eighteen (44%) were overweight and remaining 56% were in different stages of obesity. Their weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference and different biochemical parameters were taken at base line. They all underwent the weight management programme of three months involving- Dietary modification ( high fiber diet providing 1200-1500 Kcal, 50-60 g protein and 20 g of fat per day), physical activity for 30-45 minutes, counseling sessions two to three times a week. After three months there was significant reduction in mean weight, mean height, mean waist and mean hip circumference. Though changes in BMI Index and waist hip ratio were non-significant. Significant reduction in fasting blood sugar and triglyceride level was observed. Other biochemical parameters showed non- significant changes. Thus weight management programme was found to be effective in improving anthropometric and biochemical parameters even in short duration of six months

The study was conducted to assess the dietary intake and nutritional status (in terms of anaemia and physical growth) of adolescents from high socioeconomic strata in Delhi. Factors affecting anaemia among subjects were also analyzed. Study was conducted on 100 adolescents in age group of 10 -17 years. The study revealed low intake of calories and very low intake of iron by adolescents. There were no economic constraints but various factors like convenience. Traditional practices and dietary beliefs appeared to influence the dietary intake patterns of subjects. It was found that 28 percent subjects were overweight, 68 percent had normal BMI while 8 percent were underweight. Only 23 percent were non anaemic and remaining had low or moderate anaemia. BMI for age was significantly correlated with calorie intake. Haemoglobin levels had no relation with BMI however they were significantly correlated with iron intake of subjects. A need for nutritional counselling was felt after completion of study so as to address problems of anaemia due to faulty eating habits.

The present study was aimed to develop pearl millet based fermented skim milk product. The strain, L. rhamnosus RSI3 isolated from indigenous cereal based fermented milk product Rabaadi was screened and finally selected for starter formulation on the basis of appreciable phytate degrading activity and significant antibacterial and antifungal activity against pathogens. However, this culture didn’t happen to be a good acid producer and hence was paired with a prolific acid producing compatible S. thermophilus ST20, a native strain isolated from dahi. With these strains as starter cultures, method of development of cereal based fermented milk product was standardized using skim milk and ungerminated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) flour as raw material and cumin (Cuminum cyminum)   , black pepper (Piper nigrum), curry patta (Murraya koenigii) and salt as flavouring agents. The product so developed was analyzed for fat, protein, moisture, ash, acidity content and HCl extractability of minerals (as an index of bioavailability of minerals).

The present study is to investigate the probiotic properties of lactic acid bacteria isolated from different food sources. Bacterial strains were screened for probiotic properties viz. tolerance to pH, bile salt, NaCl and phenol. They were also tested for auto-aggregation and hydrophobicity. They were also subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing for their potential in reducing the negative effects of antibiotic therapy on host system. Out of 7 samples, 2 bacterial strains were tolerant to acid, bile salt, NaCl and phenol stress. Both the strains were identified by morphological, biochemical and molecular characterization. BLAST tool was used to compare the 16S rRNA sequences. Auto-aggregation and hydrophobicity were carried out and found the good auto-aggregation and hydrophobicity capability of both the strains. Bacteriocin produced by these two strains were investigated for their anti-bacterial potential against test pathogens. Among several selected bacterial strains L.plantarum SK3 and L.plantarum DB2 have good probiotic potential for further use in preparation of functional food. Currently research has been done to prepare functional food with health benefits along with overcoming nutritional deficiencies. These functional foods can be prepared by using lactic acid bacteria in fermentation. The lactic acid bacteria isolated in this study proved a good probiotic candidate as they survived during stress conditions posing to them. This study revealed the potential/possibility of using LAB and /or bacteriocin produced by them as food bio preservative to control foodborne pathogenic bacteria in near future.

Changes in acidification and sugars of cocoa pulp during fermentation of pulp pre-conditioned cocoa (Theobroma cacao) beans were investigated using a 3 × 3 full factorial experimental design with tree level treatment (control (TI), inoculum added in begin fermentation (IA), inoculum added in step (IB) and fermentation time as principal factors. pH, non-volatile (titratable) acidity, reducing sugars, and fermentation indexes of cocoa beans were studied using standard analytical methods. pH of the cocoa nibs increased with inoculum added and fermentation with consequential decrease in non-volatile acidity. Contrary, inoculum added and fermentation decreased the reducing sugars in cocoa nib. The most abundant fermentation indexes in unfermented cocoa bean with values of (TI) 0.31 – 0.88, (IA) 0.32 – 0.99, (IB) 0.33 – 1.03).

Zinc is second most abundant trace mineral in our body after iron. In recent years zinc is gaining attention, as its deficiency is widespread across the world. Most foods are low in zinc content therefore fortification is very stable long term approach to control zinc deficiency. Fermented milk products consumption has increased drastically in recent time due to their functional properties and high nutritive values. Fermented products having certain specific ingredients with specific health benefits could be of potential interest. Milk fermented products are very effective vehicles for zinc fortification due its popularity in many ethical population including vegetarians who do not consume meat but they consume fermented dairy products. Zinc fortification is a fruitful strategy in order to prevent zinc deficiency especially for risk groups such as elderly, vegetarians, lactating women and children. Fermented milk foods can be served as better vehicle for zinc fortification than cereals and other plant based sources.

Khakhra is a crispy version of roti, it is usually a cracker that is handmade and roasted to provide crunchiness. It is also a healthy snack which is a common recipe in the Rajasthani and Gujarati cuisines of western India, especially a Jain’s and Gujarati’s. In present investigation efforts were made to prepare masala khakhra by using different proportions of ingredients like whole wheat, besan, rice flour, arrowroot powder, dehydrated onion. After few trials a recipe was standardized using blends of whole wheat flour, gram flour, rice flour, arrowroot powder, dehydrated onion and spices to taste. Physico-chemical, nutritional profile and sensory analysis of final product made using standardized recipe was carried out. Sensory evaluation was done by semi trained panelists on 5 point hedonic scale. Shelf-life study of the final product was carried over a period of 14 days at room temperature it was found that product maintained the required texture for first seven days at room temperature.

The present study was designed with a aim to isolate and select potential probiotic L. gasseri strains from breast fed human infant feces (0-3 months), saliva and breast milk samples (0-3 months old lactating mothers). A total number of 34 L. gasseri isolates isolated from these samples were initially screened to check their survival at pH-2. Out of these 34 isolates only nine isolates viz. Lg5, Lg6, Lg12, Lg23, Lg50b, Lg61b, Lg70, Lg8sf and Lg2sc were found to be most acid tolerant and selected for further in vitro evaluation. When tested for bile tolerance three isolates Lg70, Lg2sc, Lg8sf were found to resist 2% bile and showed highest viability among the tested nine strains. The nine isolates exhibited varying degree of hydrophobicity to three tested hydrocarbons and were also demonstrated to have adhesive properties on Caco-2 cell lines. Four L. gasseri strains viz. Lg50, Lg61b, Lg70 and Lg8sf were found to have strong BSH activity and were also found to assimilate cholesterol in vitro. The isolate Lg70 showed highest in vitro cholesterol assimilation following 24 h incubation in broth having cholesterol. Almost all the L. gasseri isolates showed activity against tested indicator strains. These nine isolates were susceptible to clinically used antibiotics. When tested for virulence traits none of the isolate were found positive for hemolysis, DNase and Gelatinase activity and hence were found to be safe. In this study the L. gasseri strain Lg70 was found as the most promising probiotic candidate.

The rice based noodles were prepared by incorporating germinated chickpea flour of 5, 10, 15 and 20 per cent from 36 hours of GNG 469 and GNG 1581 chickpea cultivars. With the incorporation of germinated chickpea flour, the highest mean moisture content of 11.47 percent was recorded in treatment T1 (100:00::RF), crude protein (10.14 per cent), crude fat (1.10 per cent), crude fiber (4.14 per cent) in treatment T5(80:20::RF:GNG1581CF), ash content of 1.53 per cent in treatment T5(80:20::RF:GNG1581CF) and T9(80:20::RF:GNG 469CF) and total carbohydrates (78.34 per cent) in treatment T1 (100:00::RF). The minimum cooking time of 09.51 minutes was observed in treatment T5(80:20::RF:GNG1581CF) and gruel solid loss of 9.20 per cent in treatment T7(90:10::RF:GNG469CF). Sensory evaluation of chickpea flour based rice noodles revealed that highest overall acceptability score of 7.20 was recorded in treatment T4 (85:15::RF:GNG 1581CF).

Indigenous fermented beverage brewed from rice is an integral part of the rich tribal diet and culture in the region of West Garo Hills, Meghalaya. The beverage is fermented using locally available rice varieties and traditional rice starter cultures containing a mixed population of indigenous microbes (yeast, bacteria and moulds) and topical medicinal plants. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antibacterial property of the traditionally fermented rice beverage with respect to five different medicinal plants used individually in the starter culture namely Plumbago zeylanica, Thelypteris clarkei C.F. Reed, Clorodendrum D. Don, Leucas lavandulaefolia and Scoparia dulcis. All the beverages exhibited good antibacterial property in agar well diffusion assay with the beverage brewed using S. dulcis and L. lavandulaefolia showing the highest inhibition zone of 39.50 ± 0.70mm against B. cereus Control beverage brewed from the starter without medicinal plants showed the least inhibition zones ranging from 8.75±0.21mm to 15.67±0.45mm. Hence the investigations testified a potential increase antibacterial property of the traditional rice beverage which can be attributed to the addition of medicinal plants thus plausibly contributing to its curative and health-promoting property claimed by the local tribal folks of West Garo Hills, Meghalaya.

Lactose has long been used as a precursor for the manufacture of high-value derivatives with emerging applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. This review focuses on the main characteristics, manufacturing methods, physiological effects and applications of lactobionic acid. Lactobionic acid is a product obtained from lactose oxidation, with high potential applications as a bioactive compound. Recent advances in tissue engineering and application of nanotechnology in medical fields have also underlined the increased importance of this organic acid as an important biofunctional agent.

Scientific investigators have motivated recently from principal role of food by supplying adequate nutrients and energy to sustain physiological functions and well-being. Conversely, the consumer interest about the active role of food in well-being and life prolongation has been improved. In this manner, a novel term functional food was introduced which refers to the prevention and therapeutic effects of food beyond its nutritional value. A wide array of functional foods has been developed recently and many of them are being produced in all over the world i.e. probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic foods. All these functional components are able to exercise substantial influences on human well-being. The present review focuses on recent developments in dairy and non-dairy probiotic products. All over the world, dairy probiotics are being commercialized in several different forms. However, the allergy and lactose intolerance are the major health concerns to dairy probiotics. Whereas, flavor and refreshing nature are the principle advantages of non-dairy drinks, especially fruit juices. Emphasizing these positive activities is one possible approach for improving the health image of non-dairy fermented products and developing the functional foods. Discovering of new probiotic/prebiotic/synbiotic functional foods is linked to the interest of the food industry to renovate constantly through introduction of products with enhanced nutritional value, but also with health advantage for consumers.

Whey has been used as a growth medium for lactic acid bacteria (LAB). This is the cheapest medium for production of biomass in larger amount as the whey is a by-product of dairy industry. The pure strains of Lactobacillus helveticus MTCC 5463 was inoculated in Cheddar cheese whey. Proteolysis was done by treating with papain (0.5%) at 50°C for 4h. Among several nutrient supplements used to promote the growth of bacteria; WPC (@ 0.5%) and inorganic salt MnSO4 (@0.01%) were found most promising for boosting the growth of lactic culture. Such standardized whey based medium was compared for growth characteristics of Lb. helveticus MTCC 5463 to that of only whey and commercially available media (MRS) and found to have no significant difference in growth of bacteria. The viability of Lactobacillus in MRS as well as standardized whey based medium was also non-significant. To assess industrial feasibility for the commercialization of medium, yield of biomass of the strain was determined at laboratory scale and found to be 2.41 g from 500 ml whey. When this optimized process was scaled up to 5L capacity using fermenter for 12 h, dry yield of Lb. helveticus MTCC 5463 was found 5.51 g/L while total viable counts were 10.11log cfu/g. Thus, use of whey as culture media for the production of biomass of lactic acid cultures offers a low cost alternative for commercial media

In the present study, three starter cultures viz., C1 (Streptococcus thermophilus MTCC 5460 + Lactobacillus helveticus MTCC 5463), C2 (Streptococcus thermophilus MTCC 5460 + Lactobacillus rhamnosus MTCC 5945) and C3 (Streptococcus thermophilus MTCC 5460 + Lactobacillus rhamnosus MTCC 5946), two forms of finger millet flour viz., malted and unmalted were used to prepare finger millet enriched probiotic fermented milk. Both forms of finger millet flour were incorporated in toned milk at 15% and 20% rates. Products were analysed for titratable acidity, sensory and microbiological parameters. Study results revealed a significant interaction effect between type of cultures, forms and rates of incorporation of finger millet especially with respect to titratable acidity and culture count in the products. Malted finger millet supported better growth of all starter cultures which was evident from the higher titratable acidity and culture counts in the malted products. Sensorily also these products were superior compared to unmalted products. Among the cultures, the products made using culture C1 was found to be superior sensorily in comparison to cultures C2 and C3. Rate of incorporation of finger millet @20% supported a better growth of cultures. Average count of all the strains in the products were more than10 log cfu/g.

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Bioactive peptides are specific sequences of amino acids, which are generated during food processing, microbial action, or enzymatic hydrolysis. Bioactive peptides have been researched for specific bio-functional role since many years. Well documented health benefits includes, antimicrobial activity, anticancer activity, anti-oxidative activity, antiaging activity, opioid activity, antithrombotic, hypocholesterolemic, immunomodulatory, cytomodulatory, mineral binding activity and also antihypertensive activity. Inhibiting mechanisms and structure of peptides plays crucial role in the bio-functional activity. Bioactive peptides with multi-functionality are now gaining special interest from researchers. Here, this article explained different functions of peptides, possible mechanisms of bioactive peptides, multifunctional role, and sources of multifunctional peptides.

Whey is the liquid fraction that remains following manufacture of cheese, chhana, paneer and casein. It is utilized for the growth of lactic cultures, and scaled up to laboratory scale (500 ml), followed by pilot scale (3 liters) using whey based medium. The biomass of lactic cultures obtained from the whey based medium was tested for suitability in preparation of fermented dairy products like dahi, buttermilk, yoghurt and whey beverage. The fermented dairy products analyzed for physico-chemical properties and sensory attributes. The results obtained for the growth of lactic cultures showed that this medium can be a suitable low-cost alternate for producing high amount of cell biomass. Therefore, present study entailed to conclude that a novel use of these low-cost by-product of the dairy industry, offering an alternative way of its utilization, helping to minimize their negative impact on the environment.

Probiotics are said to confer a number of health benefits on the host through their varied mechanisms of action in the human GIT. But a number of limitations exist with use of live probiotics. We are yet to be sure about the optimal dosage of probiotics, their specific mode of action, duration of the beneficial effects and the nature of the final results. The metabolic substances elaborated by probiotics and or their structural components, popularly called as metabiotics are said to provide more precise results in the above said aspects. These substances are said to possess better absorption, metabolism, distribution, and excretion abilities compared with classic probiotics based on live microorganisms. Hence use of metabiotic products may provide a more precise approach for treatment of pathological conditions associated with the imbalance of host microbiota.

Tungrymbai is a traditional fermented food of Khasi and Jaintia tribes of Meghalaya. In this study Tungrymbai was analyzed for physico-chemical and microbial quality of pre-cooked and post-cooked samples prepared by using Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus plantarum culture combination in 1:1 ratio at 1, 2 and 3% culture combination. Shelf-life of the product was carried out by storing at 6ËšC and 33ËšC for 4 days. pH was found to decrease while titratable acidity increases as the number of storage days increases. Protein content was highest in Tungrymbai with 3% cell biomass. pH and titratable acidity was more in pre-cooked samples, whereas protein content was more in post-cooked samples. Lactobacillus count was found in all the samples, yeast and mold was observed only in the 4th day of storage and coliforms was absent in pre-cooked samples. However, microbes were absent in post-cooked sample I and only Lactobacillus strain were detected in post-cooked samples II which indicates that the cooking procedure and heat intensity while cooking affect the Lactobacillus strains. Therefore, awareness can be created for the preparation method of Tungrymbai without cooking the product, to get the beneficial properties of Tungrymbai prepared with Lactobacillus strains.

Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) known to produce bacteriocins; a small, ribosomally synthesized antimicrobial peptides considered as next generation antibiotics due to the broad spectrum antibiotic nature. Scanty research was reported on the isolation and screening of different LAB species with high bacteriocin yield. With this lacuna the present study aimed to screen various isolated LAB cultures for their bacteriocin yield abilities and subsequently indentifies the elite LAB species representing higher bacteriocin yield. Initially isolated and preserved LAB cultures were sub-cultured and further screened for their bacteriocin yield abilities on CM media as a production media under submerged state fermentation (SmF) conditions. Based on the bacteriocin yield an elite species was identified, and studied morphologically by growing on different media namely Nutrient agar (NA) media, Acetate agarmedia and MRSmedia. Pediococcus pentosaceus strain 2269 obtained from culture collection centre NCIM, Pune, India was used as a standard culture. Microscopic study was performed to screen the visible similarities between the isolate and the standard strain. Further biochemical characterization i.e. Indole, Methyl red, Vogues Proskaeur, Catalase and Carbohydrate fermentation; studies were carried to confirm the culture at Genus level. Finally molecular characterization was done using 16s RNA sequencing followed by phylogenetic analysis (MEGA V-6)to confirm the isolate at species level. Results reported that the culture isolated from the Sanna batter (Sanna 14) was identified as an elite species i.e. Pediococcus pentosaceus with higher bacteriocin yield (0.4mg/l) among the three bacteriocin positives cultures reported in the present study. The 16s RNA sequence of the Pediococcus pentosaceus culture was submitted to NCBI GenBank with an issued accession number MF183113.

The present investigation was carried out for the formulation of new functional dairy product “synbiotic dahi” and to study its properties. To formulate synbiotic dahi in three different forms, heat treated cows’ whole milk (95 °C/5 min. and subsequently cooled to 37 °C) was inoculated with probiotic culture L.helveticus MTCC5463 @2.0% v/v. Prebiotic inulin @2.0% along with other functional food ingredients like WPC (whey protein concentrate) @3.0%, NMCP (natural milk calcium powder) @200 mg/100ml was added to prepare a plain synbiotic dahi (blend A). To make synbiotic dahi sweeten, in one form of dahi added non nutritive sweetener sucralose @19.5 mg/100 ml (blend B) and into another form added cane sugar @9.0% w/v (blend C). These different rates of addition of ingredients were decided on the basis of sensory profile evaluation during preliminary studies carried out. These three blends once formulated were compared with control dahi (M) which was made by using cow milk, without any additives and fermented with the same probiotic culture. All the four dahi prepared were stored at 4 ±1 °C for the period of 28 days and evaluated for chemical composition and microbiological attributes at an interval of seven days. As all the three forms of synbiotic dahi prepared were acceptable throughout the storage period for all the sensory and biochemical parameters, without noticeable and undesirable changes, along with around 107 to 108 cfu/ml of live count for probiotic culture.

Two indigenous human originated potentially probiotic cultures Lb. helveticus MTCC 5463 (LH) and Lb. rhamnosus 231 (LR231) were used to ferment milk and products were examined for their fermentation characteristics and sensory attributes. Lb. rhamnosus GG (LGG) and commercial dairy starter YC-381 (YC) were used as control. Decline in pH and corresponding increase titratable acidity of milk fermented by probiotic strains were similar to YC. Amongst the probiotic strains, LH was found to produce highest acid which was comparable to dairy starters. Viability of all probiotic organism did not differ significantly and remained above 8 log cfu/g in freshly fermented product. LH produced significantly higher lactic acid whereas the concentrations of the acetic acid did not vary among the probiotic strains and dairy. Highest viscosity of fermented product obtained with LGG, however, whey separation was not found to be affected. Milk fermented by probiotic organism are found to be comparable, in their sensorial attributes, to commercial dairy starters. Hence, the indigenous probiotic strains could be utilize as dairy starter to produce fermented milk

Despite of its multiple values, cultivation of grain amaranth has not received much attention. Processing and utilization of the grain in Ethiopia is currently low. This research was initiated to study the effect of processing methods (soaking and roasting) on nutritional and anti-nutritional value of amaranth grain; and potential future application of amaranth grain in injera making. The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete design and replicated three times per treatment. The outcome of the study revealed that as the amaranth grain has good nutritional qualities and concurrently less amount of tannin and phytic acid. The crude fat, ash, fiber and protein contents of raw amaranth was 7.33%, 2.97%, 3.67 % and 13.07% respectively. The results revealed that, processing methods had significantly affected the nutritional qualities. The proximate compositions, minerals and anti-nutrients of the soaked amaranth was slightly lower than the roasted. In this study, roasting reduced crude protein content 3.44% and iron by 1.84mg/100g. Furthermore, soaking significantly reduces the anti-nutrients than roasting though it had effect on some nutritional qualities. Soaking reduced the phytates and tannin contents by 29.67mg/100g (11.85%) and 3.39mg/100g (49.62%) respectively. The injera griddled from amaranths grain had good colour, high number and evenly distributed of eyes and non-sticky and soft texture which makes it promising to replace teff for injera making.

Probiotics are live microorganisms which pass through the gastrointestinal tract and survive the harsh environments of the GI tract tolerating low pH in stomach, bile salts, limited space preoccupied by the pathogens etc. Therapeutic benefits have led to an increase in the incorporation of probiotic bacteria such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria in dairy products, especially fermented dairy products. Encapsulation techniques enhanced the survival of probiotic cultures compared to free cells in different dairy products stored for a longer periods. It also protects the bacteria from harsh conditions (low pH, antibiotics, bacteriocins, bile salt concentration etc) in the gut. Different coating materials for encapsulations for various bacterial cultures including probiotics has been a common practice for extending their storage life in vitro and also survivability in the GI tract in vivo to provide the health benefits to the consumers consuming different functional fermented dairy foods.

We determined some functional properties of species of Bacillus and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) previously isolated from tungrymbai and bekang, naturally fermented soybean foods of India which included enzymatic activities, production and degradation of poly-γ-glutamic acid (PGA), acidifying capacity, degradation of antinutritive factors, antimicrobial activities, ability to produce biogenic amines, degree of hydrophobicitys, antioxidant activity and total phenol contents of the products. Bacillus spp. showed wide spectrum of enzymatic activities. Bacillus subtilis TS1:B25 (tungrymbai) and B. subtilis BT:B9 (bekang) accounted for the highest production of PGA (2.8 mg/ml each) amongst the other strains tested. Though LAB showed antimicrobial activities, none of them produced bacteriocin and biogenic amines under the applied condition. Enterococcus faecium TM2:L6 (tungrymbai) and BAV:E2 (bekang) showed the highest degree of hydrophobicity of 72.7% and 71.6%, respectively. LAB strains were able to degrade phytic acid and oligosaccharides, showing their ability to degrade anti-nutritive factors. Tungrymbai and bekang possess antioxidant and free radical (DPPH and ABTS) scavenging activity. This is the first report on functional properties of tungrymbai and bekang.

Probiotics are live bacteria and dietary concepts to improve the intestinal microbial balance. Microencapsulation technique significantly improves the stability of probiotics during food processing and gastrointestinal transit. However, the matrix has a positive impact on survival without affecting the release of entrapped cells in simulated colonic pH solution. Maximum survival of cells has been noticed in encapsulated bacteria compared to the normal cells during different processing treatments as well as acid and bile tolerance and resistance to the gastric juices.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a heterogeneous group of gram-positive bacteria. They are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and occupy a central role in the food industry for centuries. LAB has been widely used in many industrial applications as a starter culture in production of fermented food products and as biocontrol agent in food preservation. In addition, many strains of LAB have probiotic properties that colonize the host mucosal surfaces, including gut, where they may contribute to host health. Several factors affect the viability of LAB during food manufacturing, storage and after consumption during transition through the gastrointestinal tract. Two options could maintain the viability of probiotics. Selecting resistant probiotic strains or genetically modified one to adapt the stress conditions or developing an effective encapsulating delivery system. Microencapsulation appears to be one of the promising techniques in protecting the LAB. Encapsulation efficiency was affected by the capsule size, carrier agent, encapsulation technique and the probiotic cell load. Several methods and carrier agents have been investigated and appeared promising, however, in the laboratory scale. Designing a good delivery system for industrial scale production could be performed through understanding the characteristic features of the entrapped bacteria and how it interact with the carrier agent, the kind of the exposed stress, the required capsule size and the in vivo assessment for its benefit on the human health.

Fermentation is an age old technique that has been progressing continuously for better shelf life, safety, digestibility and for better nutritional value of fermented milk products. Lactic acid bacteria are most important in onset of fermentation which directing health benefits conferred by them. These health benefits are strain specific as genetic, biochemical and physiological differences among the strains of the same species. Safety evaluation and assessment of local and undefined cultures are utmost important otherwise, it may promotes public allegations succeeding into confidence loss in functional foods. Conventional techniques of toxicology and safety evaluation are not sufficient since a probiotic is meant to survive and grow in human colon in order to benefit humans. Hence, there is a need for in vivo assessment in support of in vitro confirmation for an adequate safety of currently undefined cultures before their use in fermented milk products preparations.

In 2002, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) published the ‘Guidelines for the Evaluation of Probiotics in Food’,and recommended the most widely accepted definition of the term ‘probiotic’ as ‘Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit to the host’.(1) This definition encompasses the food well as the non-food applications of the term.

The objective of the study was to formulate and study sensory acceptability and probiotic cell count of fresh and stored lassi prepared using probiotic cells immobilized on two selected dry fruits. Free cells of the probiotic microorganism and cells immobilized in alginate beads were used for control lassi preparation. The organism used was L. Paracasei and the dry fruits selected for immobilization were figs and dates.Sensory evaluation (using modified Hedonic score card) of the fresh and stored products was carried out and L. paracasei count (on RCABV Agar) was also enumerated.

The survival and effect of free and calcium-induced alginate-starch encapsulated probiotic bacteria (Lactobacillus casei NCDC 298 and Lactobacillus acidophilus NCDC 15), on sensory attributes of quarg cheese were studied over 30 days of storage. The results showed that there were significant difference (p<0.05) in free and encapsulated probiotic cells for both the probiotic bacteria after 30 days of storage. There was increased survival of 1.5 and 1 log cell Number chargess of both Lactobacillus casei NCDC 298 and Lactobacillus acidophilus NCDC 15, respectively due to protection of cells by microencapsulation. The high survivability of encapsulated probiotic cells 8.88 log in case of NCDC 298 compared to 8.14 log cells for NCDC 15 during 30 days of storage of quarg cheese, indicates that Lactobacillus casei NCDC 298 can be effectively used as therapeutic dose in encapsulated form for the manufacture of probiotic quarg cheese.

Prebiotics function by acting as selective substrates for probiotic microorganisms, thus enhancing their growth and colonization in the intestine. Inulin, a fructooligosaccharide, is effective in reducing intestinal disturbances, when ingested along with probiotics. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of inulin in enhancing the growth and antimicrobial activity of a Lactobacillus spp. Growth and antimicrobial activity of five lactobacilli strains in inulin containing broth were compared with MRS broth. All lactobacilli cultures were able to utilize inulin, however growth and antimicrobial activity were differ from culture to culture. Lactobacilli acidophilus NCDC 14 showed maximum growth. Lactobacillus cultures antimicrobial activity against indicator organisms in presence of inulin. Lactobacillus casei NCDC 298 showed antimicrobial activity against all three indicator organisms. Inulin utilization, growth and antimicrobial activity were variable among the Lactobacillus cultures tested.

Human intervention studies are a requisite to justify prophylactic and therapeutic effects of probiotics. A Lactic Acid Bacterial (LAB) isolate obtained from chilli pickle has been identified as Pediococcus acidilactici MTCC5101 based on 16S rRNA gene sequence. It is a bile tolerant strain which produces Pediocin CP2 with a wide antibacterial range. Present study is focused on evaluation of probiotic potential of P. acidilactici MTCC5101 and its colonization in human gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Further in a pilot scale pre-clinical trial among 30 young anemic women, role of P. acidilactici MTCC5101 along with another probiotic Bacillus coagulans MTCC492 was assessed in absorption of therapeutic iron salt in human GI tract.

The aim of the present study is to design, develop and compare the production capacity and the difference in the yield of the ethanol by fermentation technology. The utility of the alcohol per annum is increasing day by day as the number of industries using ethanol as a solvent, pharmaceutical aid. Hence the production of ethanol by fermentation technology has triggered us to investigate the best way and method to produce ethanol of benefit of Pharmaceutical Industry. Method: The conventional method of production of alcohol was performed by aerobic batch type of fermentation: the yield was noted. The same production was performed by using immobilized yeast cells by gel entrapment technique. We produced ethanol by free and immobilized saccharomyces cerevisiae under stationary culture. Cane molasses was used as a sugar source for about (12 – 21%), medium pH (4-5.5). incubation temperature (250c-300c), volume of fermentation medium (200 – 350ml) and reuse of immobilized yeast cells. Result: Rate of ethanol production was maximal with immobilized yeast cells. The results indicate that 2gm vegetative cells of yeast on utilizing molasses at 15% sugar concentration with medium pH 4.5 at 30oC. Conclusion: Hence we conclude that the fermentation optimization and the yield value of popular organic solvent (ethanol) was studied and reported.

The fermented soy foods that originated many thousand years ago in the Asian countries are often referred to as indigenous fermented foods. Some of the fermented soy foods are now popular in the west. The increased palatability of fermented soy foods is due to the desirable changes in soybeans properties, including texture and organoleptic characteristics (flavor, aroma, and appearance or consistency). Elimination of beany flavors, improvement of digestibility and enhanced keeping quality of the product improved safety and increase the nutritional value are considered the main goals. Fermentation makes the organoleptic characteristics of soybean more attractive to the consumer than the raw soybean. Microbial fermentation is considered as one of the oldest and most economical method for food production and preservation. Fermentation process may increase the digestibility and bioavailability of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and minerals; enhance the nutritional value such as vitamin content; shorten the cooking time, convert animal feed into food fit for humans; and increase the microbial safety.

Probiotic potential of five lactic acid bacteria(Lactobacillus rhamnosus NK2, Lactobacillus casei NK9, Lactobacillus rhamnosus NK10, Lactobacillus pentosus M20 and Lactobacillus plantarum M22 ) was carried out by performing a battery of in vitro tests i.e. low pH tolerance, tolerance to high bile concentration, cell surface hydrophobicity, bile salt hydrolase and antimicrobial activity. These isolates were able to tolerate upto pH 2.0 for 3h and 0.5% oxgall upto 4hrs. Hydrophobicity against toluene and xylene was found in the range of 42.48% to 77.80% and 37.97% to 75.39%, respectively. Bile salt (0.5% sodium taurocholate) hydrolase activity was found only in L. plantarum M22. The antimicrobial activity was measured using cell free supernatant (CFS) and neutralized CFS (pH 7) against four indicator strains (Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhi). All the isolates were able to producezone of inhibition with CFS depending on the indicator strains but with neutralized CFS,Lactobacillus rhamnosus NK2 was failed to inhibitS. typhi,L. casei NK9 was failed to inhibit Listeria monocytogenes, S. aureus and S. typhi while L. rhamnosus NK10, L. pentosus M20 and L. plantarum M22 couldn’t produce inhibition zone against Listeriamonocytogenes andS. aureus. L. plantarum M22 could be a potential probiotic isolate compared to others.

Functional ingredients from naturally occurring food biopolymers are a trend catching up amongst food and beverage developers. This is driven by the demand of consumers for clean label ingredient listings on products. The clean label trend is extending into the yogurt market (acid gel) with consumers demanding hydrocolloids, stabilizers or thickeners are purged from ingredient listings. Substituting hydrocolloids in food systems especially yogurts could mean compromising on rheological properties and water holding capacities. However, structure functionality relationship of naturally occurring biopolymer caseins in milk can be exploited to overcome this foreseen loss of product characteristics. The following review is an attempt to delineate clean label solutions for the manufacture of acid milk gels.

Editorial 2014

In this investigation, growth performance of yoghurt culture was studied in a developed whey based medium (WBM) for production of cultures biomass and preservation in concentrated dried form.Growth performances (K) of yoghurt cultures in WBM were 0.765 and 0.723 for S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus. Culture biomass produced was harvested by centrifugation, re-suspended in freeze-drying medium followed by freeze drying. Viable counts of freeze dried cultures were 11-12 log cfu/ g. Dry culture was packed in storage vials and stored at -20±1°C and viable counts were in the range of 11 to 12 log cfu/g. Physiochemical, microbiological and sensory qualities of yoghurt prepared using concentrate preserved culture and fresh propagated culture were comparable under refrigeration conditions till 5 days of study.

Functional food is known as a food, either natural or formulated, which enhances physiological performance or prevent or treat diseases and disorders. Functional foods include those items developed for health purposes as well as for physical performance. Nowadays, Probiotics and prebiotics, as functional foods, are both pretty big topics in nutrition due to their importance for human health. However, they play different roles. Probiotics are live bacteria found in certain foods or supplements. They can provide numerous health benefits, whereas, prebiotics are the important ingredients for supporting the bacteria growth. Many studies showed that there are many benefits health effect of probiotics: improvement of lactose intolerance phenomenon, cholesterol reduction, antidiarrheal and anticarcinogenic agents. Therefore, research in the probiotic areas has progressed considerably and significant advances have been made in the selection and characterization of specific probiotic cultures and substantiation of health claims relating to their consumption. Fermented dairy products are generally considered to be one of the most suitable vehicles for the administration of an adequate number of probiotic microorganisms. Our related studies to this concern were focused on the therapeutic properties of two different fermented food probiotic products. The first probiotic product was fermented camel milk fortified with dates, while the second one was aged black garlic which is known as a type of fermented garlic. The experiments were carried out on model systems of experiment animals. Results of both studies showed remarkable findings since both fortified fermented camel milk and fermented black garlic had significant effects on enhancement of humoral immune system meanwhile fermented black garlic had more hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects.

Contents Vol. 6, No. 2, December 2017

The present study on the isolation and characterization of potential phytate degrading lactobacilli from Raabadi was carried out. Twenty five samples of country made Raabadi collected from different villages of Rajasthan and Haryana in India were analyzed. Out of 40 lactobacilli isolates, nine were identified as phytate degrader, one was identified as Lactobacillus rhamnosus, five were identified as Lactobacillus fermentum and remaining three were identified as Lactobacillus brevis through phenotypic and genotypic characterization. These isolates are very much potential to degrade the phytate in cereal based fermented products.