Exploratory Study for Probiotic Enrichment of a Sea Fennel (Crithmum maritimum L.) Preserve in Brine

• Published in: Foods Vol. 11; no. 15; p. 2219
• Main Authors: Maoloni, Antonietta, Cardinali, Federica, Milanovi?, Vesna, Osimani, Andrea, Verdenelli, Maria Cristina, Coman, Maria Magdalena, Aquilanti, Lucia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 26-07-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Acidification; artificially acidified preserve; Bioactive compounds; Brines; Cold storage; Communication; Crithmum maritimum; Enriched foods; Equilibrium; Foeniculum; Food; Food science; Formulations; Lactiplantibacillus plantarum IMC 509; Microorganisms; Milk free; Natural & organic foods; Pasteurization; Probiotics; rock samphire; SYNBIO; Testing; Variance analysis; Vegan; Veganism; Vegetarianism; Italy
• ISSN: 2304-8158; 2304-8158
• DOI: 10.3390/foods11152219

Considering the increasing consumer demand for vegan and vegetarian health foods, different vegetables have been already exploited to produce non-dairy probiotic foods. In addition to being rich in bioactive compounds, sea fennel (Crithmum maritimum L.), also known as rock samphire, represents a valuable candidate in the production of probiotic-enriched foods, and, to the authors’ knowledge, it has not yet been explored as carrier for probiotics. Hence, the present study was aimed at evaluating the survival of a commercially available probiotic formulation, SYNBIO®, and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum IMC 509 in an artificially acidified, pasteurized sea fennel preserve in brine during a refrigerated storage of 44 days. Despite slight reductions in the microbial loads, at the end of the storage, both the probiotic formulations showed loads higher than 7.0 Log CFU g−1 of sea fennel or mL−1 of brine, above the recommended administration dose to exert beneficial health effects. Thus, acidified sea fennel sprouts in brine represent a potential vehicle for probiotics delivery to humans.