Avaliação da viabilidade celular de Lactobacillus plantarum incorporado em barras de chocolates com alto teor de cacau

• Ano de defesa: 2020
• Autor(a) principal: Dalmora, Kassiany Pedroso
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Positivo; Brasil; Pós-Graduação; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biotecnologia Industrial; UP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Biotecnologia; Probióticos; Cacau; Chocolate - indústria; CNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::BIOLOGIA GERAL
• Link de acesso: https://repositorio.cruzeirodosul.edu.br/handle/123456789/2780

Cocoa beans is a fermented fruit during its pre-processing stage and the final quality of the chocolate obtained from it depends on several factors, such as the genetic variety and the way of processing the cocoa as well as the fermentation and drying stages, which give flavors and unique flavors of almonds. With the rise of the functional product's market, chocolate with a high cocoa content is a featured product and it is also a potential vehicle for the inclusion of beneficial substances to health, such as probiotics. However, one of the main challenges found in these cases are the maintenance of the cellular viability of probiotic microorganisms, and therefore, techniques of immobilization and/or incorporation of protective agents can be used for this purpose. In this context, the objective of this work was to evaluate the cell viability of probiotics incorporated in artisanal chocolate bars with high cocoa content. Initially, the chocolate bars were made from almonds of Parazinho and Trinitário SJ02 varieties, containing 70% cocoa. Subsequently, lyophilized samples of the probiotic Lactobacillus Plantarum were incorporated into the chocolate with and without the addition of 20% butter (m/m). To assess probiotic’s cell viability, the analyzes were performed right after the making (zero time) of the bars with probiotics after 30 days and 60 days of storage at 25º C and 4º C, through the counting of units formed by the colony (CFU) on MRS agar. As a result, the cell viability tests demonstrated that the presence of cocoa butter in the samples did not influence the cell viability of L. Plantarum during storage for 30 days at 4°C and 25°C, as all tested conditions maintained survival rates above 108 cells UFC / g. In the case of 60 days storage at 25 ºC, it was observed that conditions in the presence of cocoa butter showed a reduction in the cell viability, which was also observed in the case of the Parazinho variety, in the presence of cocoa butter, for 60 days, at 4 ºC. As a conclusion of this study, it is observed that chocolates containing 70% cocoa formulation proved to be a potential matrix for the incorporation of probiotics, without the indication of the need to add cocoa butter to maintain the cell viability of probiotics under the evaluated conditions. Thus, the product developed can contribute to the spread of chocolate consumption as a beneficial food for consumers health.