The future prospects of probiotics lie in the successful application of individual strains with specific beneficial effects on the host. This development implies that not only the most robust strains are selected but also strains with a promising probiotic function with moderate or high sensitivity to processing stresses. This also means an increasing variety of probiotic strains with different functions. Therefore the processing of probiotics becomes an important issue. The strains have to be cultivable and proper growth conditions have to be known. Another very important step in processing is the preservation step. This includes either the freezing and frozen storage or the drying and storage in powder form. The fermentation, drying, and storage processes are highly interrelated. Therefore a holistic approach has to be chosen for the production of highly effective probiotic formulation. The book comprises state-of-the-art knowledge on isolation and characterization of probiotics as well as processing (fermentation, freezing, drying, and storage) and application of probiotics in different food products. This book will serve as a guidebook to researchers, technologists, and industry professionals in the field of probiotics.

Part I Probiotic Cells And The Cultivation

Isolation, Identification and Characterisation of Potential New Probiotics; Endo, A. and Gueimonde, M.

A survey on established and novel strains for probiotic applications; Salvetti, E., Torriani, S., and Felis, G.E.

Probiotic cell cultivation; Santos, M., Tymczyszyn, E., Golowczyc, M., Mobili, P., and Gomez-Zavaglia, A.

Probiotics as cell factories for bioactive ingredients; Focus on microbial polysaccharides and health beneficial effects; London, L. E. E., Ross, R. P., Fitzgerald, G. F., Shanahan, F., Caplice, N. M., and Stanton, C.

Part II Molecular Aspects And Related Techniques

Identification and enumeration of probiotics; Heller, K. J. and Meske, D.

Investigation of probiotic functionalities by proteomics; Mazzeo, M. F. and Siciliano, R. A.

Requirements for a successful future of probiotics; Hörmansperger, G.

High-throughput techniques for studyingof gut microbiota; Rousseau, C. and Butel, M.

Engineering of probiotics for technological and physiological functionalities; Sleator, R.

Part III Preservation of Probiotics

Freezing of probiotic bacteria; Béal, C. and Fonseca, F.

Freeze-drying of probiotics; Aschenbrenner, M., Först, P., and Kulozik, U.

Alternative drying processes for probiotics and starter cultures; Först, P.

Industrial aspects for probiotic production; Anders Clausen and Susanne Gron

Process analytical technology (PAT) in freeze drying; Fissore, D.

Storage of probiotic powder; Santivarangkna, C.

Part IV Applications Of Probiotics

Encapsulation in Milk Protein Matrices and Controlled Release; Würth, R., Foerst, P., and Kulozik, U.

Novel dairy probiotic products; Shah, N. P.

Non-dairy probiotic products; Abu-Ghannam, N., and Rajauria, G.