A spray-dried culture for probiotic Cheddar cheese manufacture

Spray-dried probiotic milk powder was produced at pilot scale from 300 L of 20% (w/v) reconstituted skim milk containing a rifampicin resistant variant of the probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei NFBC 338 (Rif r). During powder manufacture, air inlet and outlet temperatures of 175°C and 68°C, respectively, were used, which yielded a probiotic survival of 84.5%. The powder, which contained 1×10 9 cfu g −1 of Lb. paracasei NFBC 338 Rif r was used as an adjunct inoculum (at 0.1% w/v) during probiotic Cheddar cheese manufacture. Probiotic numbers were 2×10 7 cfu g −1 in the cheese on day 1 and grew to 7.7×10 7 cfu g −1 after 3 months of ripening, without adversely affecting cheese quality. The data demonstrate that probiotic spray-dried powder is a useful means of probiotic addition to dairy products, as this example for Cheddar cheese manufacture shows.