Lactic Acid Bacteria Dry Powder Composition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dry compositions for lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with high amounts of protective agents face challenges in maintaining viability during storage, especially under humid conditions, as they can be difficult to dry without inactivating the cells, and often require freezing steps that may cause membrane damage.
Innovation Solution
A dry powder composition method involving vacuum pressures of 0.7 to 2 millibars during primary drying and subsequent secondary drying under reduced pressure to create a composition with 10^9 to 10^13 cfu/g of LAB cells, using protective agents like trehalose, inulin, and hydrolyzed casein without sodium alginate, which improves storage stability at elevated humidity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high amounts of protective agents are added to LAB composition to improve storage stability, then storage stability is improved, but drying becomes difficult without inactivating the cells
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by controlling vacuum pressure (0.7 to 2 millibars during primary drying, then lower for secondary drying) and temperature parameters during the drying process. This allows removal of excess moisture from compositions with high protective agent content while maintaining LAB cell viability, resolving the contradiction between storage stability improvement and drying difficulty
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses preliminary action by adding protective agents (trehalose, inulin, hydrolyzed casein) to the LAB composition before the drying process. This preliminary protection enables the subsequent drying step to proceed without inactivating the cells, even when high amounts of protective agents are present
2Reliability
If freezing steps are used to preserve LAB cells during storage, then cell viability is maintained, but membrane damage occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful freezing step from the preservation process. Instead of using freezing to maintain cell viability, the invention relies on the combination of protective agents and controlled vacuum drying to achieve long-term storage stability without the membrane damage caused by ice crystal formation during freezing
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces protective agents (trehalose, inulin, hydrolyzed casein) as intermediaries that protect LAB cells during storage. These agents form a protective matrix around the cells, replacing the need for freezing and preventing membrane damage while maintaining cell viability during long-term storage
3Productivity
If conventional drying methods are used on compositions with high protective agents, then drying speed is maintained, but LAB cell inactivation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by using vacuum drying at controlled pressures (0.7 to 2 millibars for primary drying, then lower for secondary drying) instead of conventional atmospheric drying. This parameter change enables both fast drying speed and high cell viability by preventing thermal damage while efficiently removing moisture from compositions with high protective agent content
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method results in significantly improved storage stability of LAB cells, maintaining viability with less than 2.5 log loss of active cells after 13 weeks at 30% RH and 35°C, and allows for efficient industrial-scale production with reduced costs and time.
Implementation Method 1
primary drying the material on the tray under a vacuum pressure of from 0.7 to 2 millibar (mbar), at a temperature wherein the temperature of the material does not get so high that more than 75% of the LAB cells are inactivated and for a period of time until at least 90% of the water of the slurry of step (b) has been removed
Implementation Method 2
primary drying the material on the tray under a vacuum pressure of from 0.7 to 2 millibar (mbar)
Implementation Method 3
freezing the slurry to form solid frozen particles/pellets
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a dry compositions for lactic acid bacteria and in particular to a dry composition comprising from 109 to 1013 cfu/g of the composition of lactic acid bacteria cells, wherein the composition is characterized by that it also comprises following amounts of protective agents (all amounts of protective agents below are given relative to 1 g of lactic acid bacteria cells in the composition): from 6 to 9 g of trehalose, from 0.1 to 1 g of inulin and from 0.5 to 3 g of hydrolyzed casein, and by that it does not comprise a salt of alginic acid. The composition has an improved storage stability of the cell of interest. Comparison experiments have been made between compositions with and without alginate and it has been found that there is substantially no difference between compositions with or without alginate with regard to stability. Further, the invention relates to a method for preparing a dry lactic acid bacteria composition.