Survival of Pro-biotic Microorganisms for Improvement of Nutritional Quality of Ice Cream

Abstract Pro-biotic ice cream was produced by mixing a standard ice cream mix containing 14% (w/w) cow's milk curd prepared using cultures of Lactobacillus casei and L. acidophilus. The ice cream mix was then chilled in a freezer and hardened at a temperature of −20 °C. The hardened ice cream was stored for 8 weeks at −20 °C and the survival of the pro-biotic strains and their activity for the improvement of the nutritional quality of ice cream were determined at regular intervals during storage. The viable cell counts of L. casei and L. acidophilus, viscosity, nutritional quality and sensory ratings were determined. Initially the pro-biotic bacterial count was 108 colony forming units (cfu/g) at the highest over-run and the highest cell counts were observed for L. casei (6.14×108 cfu/g). The cell count decreased slowly during storage. In the present study the ice cream samples retained >106 cfu/g of bacteria during storage for pro-biotic benefit. The B vitamin content was found to be increased from 20 to...