ENCAPSULATION OF LACTOCOCCUS LACTIS Y2 AND Y12 USING THE EXTRUSION TECHNIQUE MODIFIED FROM KRASAEKOOPT ET AL. (2003)

This study focused on the encapsulation of Lactococcus lactis strains Y2 and Y12 using extrusion technique modified from Krasaekoopt et al. (2003), aiming to improve probiotic viability in acidic food matrices, particularly yacon vinegar drink. The encapsulation process involved suspending the freeze dried Lactococcus lactis Y2 and Y12 Strain in a sodium alginate solution, followed by and gelation in calcium lactate to form stable beads. The resulting beads exhibited high viable cell counts, with Y2 encapsulated cells reaching 4.26 × 10⁹ CFU/g and Y12 reaching 7.35 × 10⁸ CFU/g. When incorporated into yacon vinegar drink, the encapsulated Y2 and Y12 strains maintained viable counts of 1.485 × 10⁸ CFU/g and 4.8 × 10⁶ CFU/g, respectively. In contrast, the free (non-encapsulated) Y2 and Y12 cultures in the vinegar broth showed significantly lower viability, with only 6 × 10 CFU/g and 1 × 10 CFU/g, respectively. Encapsulation efficiency was exceptionally high for both strains, with Y2 achieving 99.9996% and Y12 99.9998%. The corresponding release rates were minimal, at 0.0004% for Y2 and 0.0002% for Y12. These results demonstrate that the modified extrusion technique effectively preserves probiotic viability in acidic conditions and supports the potential application of encapsulated L. lactis strains in functional vinegar-based beverages and other acidic food products.