Formulation, Sensory and Microbial Aspects of Functional Fermented Dairy Product-Synbiotic Dahi

The present investigation was carried out for the formulation of new functional dairy product "synbiotic dahi" and to study its properties. To formulate synbiotic dahi in three different forms, heat treated cows' whole milk (95 °C/5 min. and subsequently cooled to 37 °C) was inoculated with probiotic culture L. helveticus MTCC5463 @2.0% v/v. Prebiotic inulin @2.0% along with other functional food ingredients like WPC (whey protein concentrate) @3.0%, NMCP (natural milk calcium powder) @200 mg/100ml was added to prepare a plain synbiotic dahi (blend A). To make synbiotic dahi sweeten, in one form of dahi added non nutritive sweetener sucralose @19.5 mg/100 ml (blend B) and into another form added cane sugar @9.0% w/v (blend C). These different rates of addition of ingredients were decided on the basis of sensory profile evaluation during preliminary studies carried out. These three blends once formulated were compared with control dahi (M) which was made by using cow milk, without any additives and fermented with the same probiotic culture. All the four dahi prepared were stored at 4±1 °C for the period of 28 days and evaluated for chemical composition and microbiological attributes at an interval of seven days. As all the three forms of synbiotic dahi prepared were acceptable throughout the storage period for all the sensory and biochemical parameters, without noticeable and undesirable changes, along with around 10^sup 7^ to 10^sup 8^ cfu/ml of live count for probiotic culture.