Abstract

This investigation is an attempt to study the survival of Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 8014 in apple juice and evaluation of independent variables (content of prebiotic, citric acid and ascorbic acid) on viability during shelf life. A central composite design was applied for considering each of the three factors at five levels to find the optimum points. The treatments were stored at 4°C for 6 weeks. The results indicated that incorporation of 2.094 (w/v) fructooligosaccharide, 207.050 mg/L ascorbic acid and 0.500 g/L citric acid to apple juice with Lactobacillus plantarum inoculate (4.0×1011 CFU/ml) improved the viability of probiotic strain during cold storage, and led to producing an optimized synbiotic apple juice. Also the probiotic showed tolerance to treatment with simulated gastric and pancreatic juice (for 4 hours). No significant different was observed between flavor (overall acceptability) of the synbiotic apple juice and the control sample until 28 days of cold storage. This product is health promoting for those who need to non-dairy probiotic products in a non-alcoholic diet. © 2018 by the authors.