Devastotra Poddar
Doctor of Philosophy, (Food Technology)
Study Completed: 2016
College of Health
Citation
Thesis Title
Stability of the probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei CRL 431 under different environmental conditions
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
Probiotics are live microorganisms which provide health benefits to the host upon consumption. Currently probiotic microorganisms are delivered mainly through refrigerated, short shelf-life products. When incorporated into ambient shelf-life products, the products generally fail to meet the regulatory criteria, which require probiotic bacteria to be viable in high numbers at the end of shelf-life. Mr Poddar''sresearch involved gaining mechanistic insight into ways to improve the stability of probiotics for application into ambient long shelf-life products. His findings suggest that fluidised bed drying provided better protection to the probiotic bacteria during storage, which was attributed to unique powder structure that reduced the mobility and absorption of water over time. Using X-ray fluorescent microscopy, it was also observed that increased manganese accumulation during bacterial growth improved the bacterial viability during storage. His research provides guidance to the food industry in developing shelf-stable probiotics that can be added to food products.
Supervisors
Distinguished Professor Harjinder Singh
Associate Professor Jon Palmer
Dr Shantanu Das