Microencapsulation of Lactobacillus casei YIT 9018 using a microporous glass membrane emulsification system

Microporous glass (MPG) membrane emulsification was used for microencapsulation of Lactobacillus casei YIT 9018. Several process parameters of membrane emulsification were investigated for producing a stable emulsion. The droplet dia in the emulsion depended upon the membrane pore size. The monodispersed emulsion obtained by this technique resulted in well-formed microcapsules with a narrow particle size distribution. For artificial gastric acid and bile, the viable count of encapsulated cells was constant through the incubation time, while the count of nonencapsulated cells was significantly decreased. A storage stability test at different temperatures resulted in a viability of encapsulated cells 3 to 5 log cycles higher than the viability of nonencapsulated cells.