Dark chocolate as a matrix for probiotic bacteria

Food products containing beneficial microorganisms, mostly lactic acid bacteria which effectively affect human digestive and immune systems, represent one of the largest market of functional foods, with dairy products as the most accessible ones. However, for some, non-negligible percentage of the global consumer‘s population, usage of dairy products is limited due to diet (vegetarian), traditional reasons, or because of lactose intolerance, cholesterol content and allergenic milk proteins. These major drawbacks related to the intake of dairy products promote the idea of replacement of milk with alternative delivery formats for probiotics, which makes the development of new nondairy probiotic foods, that can appeal to a wider range of consumers, essential. In this context, our idea was related to the incorporation of probiotic microorganisms into one of the most popular foods - chocolate, which significantly contributes to the favorable impact of this product on human health. Therefore, in this study addition of probiotic strain Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM® in dark chocolates with 44 % cocoa solids, was carried out in industrial conditions. In order to determine the shelf-life of these chocolates their sensory properties (appearance, texture, aroma) were evaluated, along with the determination of viability of added probiotic bacteria during storage at different temperatures (4ºC and 22ºC), immediately after production and after 90 and 180 days. Results indicated that the enrichment of dark chocolates with Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM® caused no modification of the their sensory properties, and the number of incorporated live probiotic bacteria maintained at a high level of 8 log cfu/g during storage of 180 days. Based on the above it can be concluded that dark chocolates with 44 % cocoa solids have a protective effect on Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM® cells and make a good matrix for the preparation of functional probiotic products.