Encapsulation of Probiotics Using Vibrational Nozzle Technology: From Fundamental Principles to Practical Applications

Abstract

Probiotics are becoming increasingly popular due to their perceived health benefits, such as their ability to establish a healthy gut microbiome. However, the poor viability and stability of probiotics during food processing, distribution, and storage, as well as during passage through the human gastrointestinal transit pose major challenges. These challenges can often be overcome by encapsulating the probiotics within a suitable delivery system. Vibrational nozzle technology offers a scalable, reproducible, and versatile method of encapsulating probiotics. The review article covers the fundamental principles underlying this technology, highlights the factors that must be optimized to successfully produce viable encapsulated probiotics, and provides examples of practical applications of this technology. The information reported here should facilitate the design and development of encapsulated probiotics for application in the foods, supplements, pharmaceuticals, and other industries.