Probiotic technology wins award

The Institut Rosell-Lallemand recently won an award for its Enteric Coating Technology for probiotic supplement capsules. The Food and Beverage Market Engineering Award is given each year by market analysts Frost & Sullivan.

Probiotic micro-organisms are delicate and exposure to oxygen, light, temperature changes and humidity can easily destroy them. Manufacturers have developed methods of preservation and stability, but itis always a challenge to work with live micro-organisms. The main drawback of producing probiotic supplement is delivering the promised number of cells to the intestine.

Capsules are often used as a medium to deliver probiotic micro-organisms but the acidity of the stomach kills some of them before they reach the intestine. To guarantee 1 billion cells delivery per capsule or gram, depending on the probiotic strain selected, the manufacturer may choose toinclude up to 50 per cent more cells. Regardless of processing, certain probiotic species and strains have inherent low viability. For example, Bifidobacterium bifidum​ are hard to maintain in viable form in the final product. Consequently, not all species or strains can be freeze-dried, stabilised or compacted equally. This is a current limitation for both probiotic culture producers and probiotic supplement manufacturers.

The Institut Rosell-Lallemand has been developing enteric coating technology in a bid to overcome the problem. This coating consists of a water-based chemical applied around the capsule to protect the contained micro-organisms from the high acidity of the stomach before they reach the human intestine. The company claims that this technology not only ensures a ten-fold increase in bacteria survival but manufacturers using this technology can include lower concentration, thereby reducing production costs and ensuring product effectiveness.

The Institut Rosell-Lallemand started business in 1932 and was the first company to introduce freeze-dried bacteria in the US market.