Probiotic low-fat ice cream from goat milk: Characterization and resilience to simulated gastrointestinal conditions

We aimed to develop a new ice cream made from goat milk inoculated with the probiotic bacteria Limosilactobacillus fermentum CABA16. The physicochemical characteristics, meltdown behaviour and sensory properties of ice cream produced with and without the probiotic bacteria were analysed. The ice cream with added L. fermentum was further evaluated for probiotic viability during frozen storage and simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Results showed that the addition of L. fermentum CABA16 decreased the pH to 6.25 (P < 0.05), but had no effect on physicochemical properties such as overrun and melting behaviour of ice cream samples. The viable probiotic count was 6.71 log CFU/g with a survival rate of 90%, which was registered after 120 days of frozen storage. Considering the probiotic cell viability during gastrointestinal conditions, exposure to bile and pancreatin for 6 hours resulted in a decline of 3.6 log CFU/g cycles in ice cream samples previously stored at -18 °C for 120 days. Overall, the goat milk ice cream inoculated with L. fermentum received good sensory scores, and satisfactory probiotic viability (6.7-7 log CFU/g) was maintained throughout the 120 days of frozen storage.