Challenges of Probiotics Microencapsulation by Spray Drying Method

Introduction: In the recent years, attention to the use of probiotic drugs and probiotic food products, due to probiotic’s functional and health properties has been increased. The storage and the viability of the probiotics in the products and passing through the gastrointestinal tract was always a big challenge. Drying is one of the functional and important choices that can be used for stabilizing microbial species and makes the bacterial usage easy. Among different microencapsulation methods, spray drying is one of the important drying methods that can be used in industrial scale and size. Optimizing the effective parameters on the cultivation and separation of probiotic bacteria, the most important and challenging parameters of spray drying that have influence on probiotic products, and choose of the best wall materials for the cores, are the most important and challenging factors that are necessary for optimizing the microencapsulation in industrial scale. In this review article, the factors affecting the survival and resistance of bacteria in the stage before entering the spray dryer and the factors affecting the survival of probiotic bacteria during the drying stage are discussed. In addition, the important criteria for selecting microfiber wall materials and the tests that are often performed on probiotic microfiber resulting from spray drying have been examined.