Survival of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts to encapsulation process comparing spray drying to electrostatic spray drying

• Encapsulation of yeasts and Lactic-acid bacteria with spray drying give high viability products. • Encapsulation of Lactobacillus Plantarum with electrostatic spray drying improves survival. • Saccharomyces cerevisiae encapsulation with electrostatic spray drying give similar survival. Microorganisms in powder format offer several advantages for the food industry, as enhanced stability, expanded storage options, are easy to transport, and can be formulate into different finished products. Specially the use and applications of probiotics and starters are increasing in the food industry. The most common methods for drying are lyophilization and spray drying. Lyophilization can give better results of viability but is more expensive and time consuming. Electrostatic spray drying is a newer method, that can use lower temperatures than spray drying, improving the viability of microorganisms. Both technologies, spray drying and electrostatic spray drying, can combine the process of drying with the encapsulation of the microorganisms. The aim of this study was to encapsulate microorganisms with starch maltodextrin and trehalose, in powder format, keeping viability, comparing spray drying (SD) and electrostatic spray drying (ESD). Encapsulation of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae using SD gives a survival of 92 %, with a final product of 10 8 ufc/g. ESD reach similar results around 93 %, and 10 8 ufc/g. However, encapsulation of the Acid-lactic bacteria Lactobacillus Plantarum using SD gives a survival around 96 %, with a final product of 10 8 ufc/g. ESD gives a higher viability, without losing viability, and can give a final product of 10 10 ufc/g. ESD can produce microcapsules of Lactobacillus Plantarum with higher viability and higher survival than SD. Survival of bacteria is higher than yeast with both technologies. The advantages of ESD are more relevant for the bacteria.