Microbiological analysis of a new non-lactic probiotic beverage – CatinoLact

Abstract

Sea buckthorn, honey and lactic acid bacteria are known for their many health benefits. Many studies show a significant increase in the number of people with lactose intolerance, allergies to milk proteins, high level of cholesterol, etc. which require special diets. Therefore, we designed a functional product called CatinoLact, which is based on sea buckthorn (puree and juice), two variants of honey (polyflora and linden) and five strains of probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as starter cultures (Lactobacillus casei 431, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium sp., Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus johnsonii). All twenty variants of CatinoLact were analyzed from a microbiological point of view: total number of aerobic mesophilic bacteria, the number of yeasts and molds and the number of lactic acid bacteria. The viability of lactic acid bacteria was evaluated every two days, in all variants of CătinoLact bioproduct stored at 4°C for 2 weeks. Although there was a decrease of viable lactic acid bacteria, the CătinoLact bioproduct can be considered as a probiotic food during 7 days of storage, since the viable population remained above the recommended minimum limit of 1x106 CFU/ mL.