Non-bovine milk products as emerging probiotic carriers: recent developments and innovations

Non-bovine milk predominately from goat, sheep, camel and donkey have been used in producing several probiotic products including yoghourt, fermented milk, ice cream and cheese. Among these, goat milk dominates as the main probiotic carrier into humans. These products can be considered as suitable vehicles for delivering probiotics to humans due to their ability in maintaining sufficient probiotic viability during shelf life. Non-bovine milk may also aid probiotics in sustaining the harsh gastrointestinal conditions and adhesion to intestinal epithelium. Although, the sensory properties of these products seem relatively unappealing for some consumers an increasing global demand exists. However, the variety of commercially available non-bovine dairy products containing probiotics is currently limited. Additionally, studies that are focusing on functional probiotic products made with milk from non-bovine species are relatively scarce thus the traditional bovine milk derivatives still represent a large portion of the probiotic product innovations.