Synergistic approach: Optimizing probiotic viability in ice cream through prebiotic based encapsulation and betalain fortification

This study explores the potential of ciceritol-based encapsulation alongside betalain fortification to improve the survival of Bifidobacterium bifidum (SP-9) in ice cream formulations. The encapsulated beads, which contain B. bifidum, were evaluated under simulated gastric and intestinal conditions, thus demonstrating enhanced survival rates compared to free cells. Incorporating ciceritol in combination with sodium alginate (M2) significantly improved the survival in simulated intestinal conditions. Additionally, ice cream formulations enriched with encapsulated probiotics (M2 micro capsules) and various concentrations of betalain extract (49, 29, 9%) were subjected to physicochemical and sensory evaluations. The results were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The ice cream variant IC-9, which contains 3301.02 mg/100g db betalains, exhibited favorable quality attributes with an increased hardness (0.38 kg) and viscosity (502.13 mPa.s), while the firmness (766.91 g) and consistency (2749.2 g.sec) remained comparable to the control. No significant change in pH (6.70–6.76) was observed, although the acidity levels increased from 0.21% (control) to 0.31% (IC9). IC-9 received superior sensory scores for the overall acceptability (7.88) and whitening index (45.01%). Conclusively, the current research found that the combination of ciceritol and sodium alginate served as the best encapsulating material, and subsequently focused on the potential use of betalains as natural colorants in the development of functional ice cream in enhancing both health benefits and sensory appeal in frozen desserts.