Potentially probiotic ice cream from goat's milk: Characterization and cell viability during processing, storage and simulated gastrointestinal conditions

- The ice cream processing did not seriously affect the survival of Bifidobacterium animalis.
- The viability of B. animalis was maintained during the 120 days of frozen storage.
- B. animalis was sensitive to enteric simulated conditions.
- The goat's milk ice cream is an adequate delivery vehicle for B. animalis.

In this work, the physicochemical characteristics, meltdown behavior and sensory properties of goat's milk ice cream produced with and without the probiotic bacteria Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLC1 were analyzed. The ice cream with added B. animalis was further evaluated in regard to the probiotic viability during processing, frozen storage, and simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Results showed that the addition of B. animalis decreased the pH (p < 0.05), but it had no effect on physicochemical properties, including overrun and melting behavior of ice cream from goat's milk (p > 0.05). After 120 days of frozen storage, a survival rate of 84.7% was registered. With regard to cell viability during gastrointestinal conditions, the exposure to bile and pancreatin resulted in the decline of 3.82 log cycles in ice cream samples previously stored at −18 °C for 120 days. Overall, the goat's milk ice cream with B. animalis received good sensory scores and satisfactory probiotic viability (6-7 log CFU/g) was maintained throughout the 120 days of frozen storage. Therefore, this research shows that goat's milk ice cream is an adequate delivery vehicle for the probiotic bacteria B. animalis.