Use of encapsulation techniques for production of food for infants

The Diploma thesis deals with use of selected probiotic strains Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium breve in different forms in food for infants. The theoretical part is focused on describing probiotics, encapsulation methods and intestinal gut microbiota of infants. Further, characterization of individual periods of infant feeding and food for infants were introduced. In experimental part the possibilities of encapsulation and lyophilisation of probiotic cells were observed. Probiotic cells were encapsulated into alginate particles. The encapsulator was used for preparation of particles and the most appropriate particles were prepared by encapsulation nozzle with size of 300 µm. Moreover, probiotics viability was monitored by Flow Cytometry, Fluorescence Microscopy and by cultivation (CFU method). Viability of probiotics was monitored during long-term storage in selected food for infants. The appropriate shelf life of non-lyophilized alginate particles in real food have been set at 1 to 2 months. Lyophilized alginate particles could be stored for more than 3 months. Finally, the stability of the particles and viability of encapsulated and non-encapsulated cells in the gastrointestinal tract conditions were also examined. The viabilities of lyophilized cells and cells encapsulated in lyophilized particles were also compared. From the results obtained, non-encapsulated probiotic bacteria cells are more susceptible to negative effects of digestive juices, the percentage of dead probiotic cells after digestion was approximately 80 %. On the other hand, alginate particles showed cell protection from digestive juices, after incomplete cell releasing from particles the percentage of dead probiotic cells did not exceed 20 %. After adequate rehydration, similar results were gained with lyophilized alginate particles. Lyophilized alginate particles have been determined to be the most suitable application form for infants’ food