The manufacturing design and probiotic strain that are used in ice cream production affect sensorial, nutritional, and physicochemical properties of ice cream. Therefore, it is possible to produce better quality products or to develop existing methods by considering the effects of probiotic cultures on these properties of ice cream. The International Dairy Federation has recommended that probiotic products contain at least 107 CFU/g of viable probiotic strain before consumption, so that the therapeutic value of a probiotic product can be associated with the viability of these bacteria. The nutritional value of probiotic ice cream is related not only to the dietary components it contains, but also to the maintaining of the viability and the activity of the probiotic bacteria. This chapter provides information on the viability of probiotic strains during ice cream processing and storage. Furthermore, the effects of probiotic cultures on sensory and physicochemical properties of ice cream are also discussed.
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The demand of functional foods has increased rapidly, as consumers have more awareness of the health effects of foods. Probiotic dairy products are an important part of the functional food industry. Among the dairy products containing live culture, probiotic ice creams have attracted great interest in recent studies (Arslan et al., 2016; Cruxen et al., 2017; Yilmaz-Ersan, Ozcan, Akpinar-Bayizit, Turan, & Taskin, 2017). Ice cream ensures suitable conditions for the growth of probiotic bacteria in large counts and their viability over storage time. Several studies have informed that ice cream is appropriate to deliver probiotics in the diet (Da Silva, De Fátima Bezerra, Dos Santos, & Correia, 2015; Hekmat & McMahon, 1992). An ice cream matrix is a complex system consisting of fat globules, nutritional compounds, ice crystals, and air cells. However, probiotics, depending on their characteristics, cannot maintain viability in the ice cream due to oxidative, mechanical, cold, and osmotic stresses. In this context, studies focused on the viability of probiotic bacteria during ice cream production and storage (Arslan et al., 2016; Magarinos, Selaive, Costa, Flores, & Pizarro, 2007; Mohammadi, Mortazavian, Khosrokhavar, & Da Cruz, 2011; Nousia, Androulakis, & Fletouris, 2011). In addition, another focus of studies has been how probiotic cultures which are used in production affect the characteristics of ice creams.