In vitro tolerance to digestive stresses of propionibacteria: influence of food matrices

This study investigated Propionibacterium freudenreichii tolerance to stresses encountered during food technology or in the digestive tract. The impact of food matrices on stress survival was evaluated. The ability of P. freudenreichii strains SI 41 and CNRZ 81 to survive both acid and bile salts stresses was studied in vitro. Stress tolerance was examined after inclusion of bacteria in different food matrices (alginate beads, xanthan-gellan beads, fermented milk) and compared to the stress tolerance of the same strains in pure cultures (either in exponential growth phase, in stationary phase, or after freeze-drying). Fermented milk was determined as the best probiotic vector to protect propionibacteria from this trial. This in vitro investigation gave promising results. Indeed, some food matrices can significantly improve protection of bacterial cells from stress injury. These data, which should be confirmed in an in vivo study, will be taken into consideration for the improvement of technological processes and for the choice of an adequate probiotic vector.