Viability of Lactobacillus casei in homemade ice-cream

Abstract

Probiotics have gained a considerable importance in our diet because of their beneficial effect to the human welfare and health. The present work had as objective to analyze the viability of the probiotic microorganism Lactobacillus casei in homemade ice cream. The viability was evaluated at 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after the ice cream processing through counts in MRS medium. The L. casei was viable during all the ice cream shelf-life, with an average count ranging from 6,32 to 7,14 log UFC.g^-1. A reduction of one logarithmic cycle occurred after 21 days of storage. The ice cream showed to be a good food for probiotic addition, presenting a good viability of these microorganisms during the 28 days of frozen storage.