Stabilization of probiotics: A focus on crosslinked encapsulation to improve their survival

Probiotic viability during processing, storage, and digestion remains a critical challenge. Crosslinked encapsulation offers a promising approach to enhance probiotic stability and targeted delivery (encapsulation efficiency typically >80 %; highest gastrointestinal survival up to ∼90 %). This review summarizes recent advances in enzyme-, ion-, chemical-, and dual-cross-linking strategies, highlighting their mechanisms, advantages, and challenges. Enzyme cross-linking ensures food-grade safety under mild conditions, ionic systems such as calcium-alginate show excellent scalability, and chemical and dual methods provide multifunctionality and improved protection. Comparative evaluation reveals that calcium-alginate remains the most industrially mature, while enzymatic and chemical cross-linking hold potential for next-generation functional foods. Future research should optimize reaction conditions, improve scalability, and integrate sustainable materials to advance industrial translation and clinical applications of crosslinked probiotic delivery systems.