Incorporation of Spirulina platensis into Probiotic Fermented Dairy Products

Innovative approaches to the development of a new sour milk product

The topic provides an analysis of the current approach to healthy nutrition and represents a new functional fermented milk drink based on buttermilk containing natural prebiotics - a biologically valuable complex Spirulina platensis. The main tasks of the industry as a holistic system for the management and production of food ingredients and products are outlined. The work highlights the requirements for the quality and context of the functional product manufacture, the main criteria for the consumer choice, and positioning of products in the healthy lifestyle system. The topic covers the most common pro- and prebiotics, including strains. The unique food green microalgae Spirulina platensis as a source of biologically valuable components is proposed for industrial application. A technique for the production of the fermented milk drink based on buttermilk and spirulina as prebiotic was developed and scientifically substantiated. The protein contained in buttermilk is characterized by high nutritional value, exhibits functional properties and can significantly affect the quality of the drink. To confirm this, the possibility of using buttermilk with different protein content from 2.9 to 3.2 to improve the structure of the clot in the composition of the drink and the content of spirulina from 10 to 20% was studied.  As single criteria for optimizing the prescription composition of the drink at the different protein content of buttermilk used indicators of product quality - acidity, degree of syneresis, organoleptic parameters. The optimal values of the individual criteria are obtained in different ranges of protein content 3 times 1-2-2; sample 2-3.0; sample 3-3.2%, which allows you to get recommendations for the formulation of a new type of drink.

Potential Industrial Applications and Commercialization of Microalgae in the Functional Food and Feed Industries: A Short Review

Bioactive compounds, e.g., protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, vitamins and minerals, found in commercial form of microalgal biomass (e.g., powder, flour, liquid, oil, tablet, or capsule forms) may play important roles in functional food (e.g., dairy products, desserts, pastas, oil-derivatives, or supplements) or feed (for cattle, poultry, shellfish, and fish) with favorable outcomes upon human health, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antiviral effects, as well as prevention of gastric ulcers, constipation, anemia, diabetes, and hypertension. However, scale up remains a major challenge before commercial competitiveness is attained. Notwithstanding the odds, a few companies have already overcome market constraints, and are successfully selling extracts of microalgae as colorant, or supplement for food and feed industries. Strong scientific evidence of probiotic roles of microalgae in humans is still lacking, while scarce studies have concluded on probiotic activity in marine animals upon ingestion. Limitations in culture harvesting and shelf life extension have indeed constrained commercial viability. There are, however, scattered pieces of evidence that microalgae play prebiotic roles, owing to their richness in oligosaccharides-hardly fermented by other members of the intestinal microbiota, or digested throughout the gastrointestinal tract of humans/animals for that matter. However, consistent applications exist only in the dairy industry and aquaculture. Despite the underlying potential in formulation of functional food/feed, extensive research and development efforts are still required before microalgae at large become a commercial reality in food and feed formulation.