Formulation of functional apple juice with probiotic bacteria in accordance to the technological regimen of production

Microorganisms are an integral part of our life. "Returning" a certain amount of natural microflora of probiotic microorganisms isolated from plant substrates into fruit juices allows them to be used as an alternative source of dairy products. People with lactose intolerance appear to be one of the important target groups of such functional food products. Lactic acid bacteria were used to create a non-dairy probiotic drink from a diverse microbial world. The experiment was carried out using a bacterial consortium developed by us, which contained three strains with probiotic properties isolated from apple samples (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 52, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 74, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 76). Probiotic bacteria inoculum was added to the juice after pasteurization, cooled to 55 °C, during bottling in sterile containers. The mentioned conditions applied to the technological regime of one of the fruit processing enterprises. Fermentation was carried out for 96 h at 37 °C in the incubator. After fermentation, the samples were placed in a refrigerator at 4°C to determine the shelf life. The number of viable cells was determined both during the fermentation period and during storage under refrigeration conditions. Results were expressed as lg cfu/ml. The
juice enriched with probiotic strains was also evaluated according to color, taste and aroma, for which a nine-point hedonic scale was used. The experiment conducted following the technological approach showed that the viability of lactic acid bacteria in apple juice enriched with probiotics decreased from 9.0±0.1 lg colonyforming units ml (lg CFU/ml) to 8.2±0.2 lg CFU/ml under the influence of relatively high temperature, while in the refrigerator It fell to 7.7±0.2 lg CFU/ml in the 10th week after storage, after which it had a decreasing trend. Due to the fact that the amount (107 CFU/ml) that should be preserved in food after fermentation and storage in refrigerator conditions is determined by the World Organization of Gastroenterology, the shelf life of the juice obtained under production conditions was determined to be 10 weeks. The resulting drink had a color characteristic of apple juice, an apple pulp-like aroma, and a slightly sour taste, although it was pleasant to drink.