Whey Protein Concentrate, Pullulan, and Trehalose as Thermal Protective Agents for Increasing Viability of Lactobacillus plantarum Starter by Spray Drying

It is necessary to add protective agents for protecting the probiotic viability in the preparation process of probiotics starter. In this study, we used whey protein concentrate (WPC), pullulan, trehalose, and sodium glutamate as the protective agent and optimized the proportion of protective agent and spray-drying parameters to achieve the best protective effect on Lactobacillus plantarum. Moreover, the viable counts of L. plantarum in starter stored at different temperatures (-20°C, 4°C, and 25°C) for 360 days were determined. According to response surface method (RSM), the optimal proportion of protective agent was 24.6 g/L WPC, 18.8 g/L pullulan, 16.7 g/L trehalose and 39.3 g/L sodium glutamate. The optimum spray-drying parameters were the ratio of bacteria to protective agents 3:1 (v: v), the feed flow rate 240 mL/h, and the inlet air temperature 115°C through orthogonal test. Based on the above results, the viable counts of L. plantarum was 12.22±0.27 Log CFU/g and the survival rate arrived at 85.12%. The viable counts of L. plantarum stored at -20°C was more than 10¹⁰ CFU/g after 200 days.