A NOVEL SYSTEM FOR DELIVERING HIGH-QUALITY AND VIABLE PROBIOTICS TO THE END-USER

Our aim is to develop a technology for the good bacteria known as probiotic to become available to consumers by incorporating them into food products. However, a reliable system for viably delivering probiotic strains in food does not yet exist. The goal of this project is thus to research and develop a universal, cost-effective and efficient encapsulation technology for delivering functional probiotics that can be incorporated into food products. This technology will be used to create novel probiotic formulations of the good bacteria such as lactobacillus bulgaricus and allow to be incorporated into supplements, dairy foods, and novel food products. As a result, high quality probiotic supplementation will become more accessible to the consumer, and these food products will benefit the consumer by enhancing health. Such a technology would also have an application for any probiotic that exists or is discovered in the future and an application for the storage and delivery of vitamins, micronutrients, and antimicrobials. Altogether, this technology would impact Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health by facilitating the delivery of beneficial substances to consumers via food products. This delivery system will also serve as a tool for assessing the stability, functionality, and health benefits of other possible combinations of bacteria as well as vitamins, micronutrients, and antimicrobials. In addition, the information gained from the research can be used to educate consumers about the health benefits of probiotics. By creating this technology, we will establish a new branch of research into probiotics and nutritional delivery systems at North Carolina A&T State University, enhancing the capacity of the Food and Nutritional Sciences program to innovate within the Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health research cluster.