Probiotic Juice Gas Reduction via Acid Metabolism Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Probiotic fruit juice drinks containing Lactobacillus bacteria face challenges with gas production from citric and malic acids, leading to short shelf-life and unpleasant taste, making it difficult to manufacture and distribute products like orange and apple juices.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating gas formation reducers such as acerola, pomegranate, cranberry, aronia, blackcurrant, buckthorn, or elderberry into the fruit juice drinks to reduce carbon dioxide production, allowing for the inclusion of high-acid juices like orange and apple without the fizziness and package expansion issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If Lactobacillus bacteria are added to fruit juice containing citric acid and malic acid, then probiotic benefits are provided, but carbon dioxide production causes gas formation, package expansion, and short shelf-life
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces specific strain combinations of Lactobacillus (including L. plantarum, L. casei, L. paracasei) as intermediary organisms that metabolize organic acids through pathways producing minimal CO2. These strains act as mediators between the probiotic requirement and the shelf-life constraint by providing health benefits while controlling gas formation through their specific metabolic characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the biological parameters by selecting specific bacterial strains with optimized metabolic pathways. The strain composition is carefully controlled to alter the metabolism of citric and malic acids, reducing CO2 production while maintaining probiotic functionality. This parameter change in bacterial strain selection directly addresses the shelf-life issue without compromising probiotic benefits.
2Reliability
If Lactobacillus bacteria metabolize citric acid and malic acid in fruit juice, then probiotic effects are achieved, but the taste deteriorates due to sparkling and fizzy form
Solution Approach 1:
Specific Lactobacillus strains serve as intermediaries that provide probiotic effects while controlling the metabolic byproducts. These strains are selected to minimize CO2 production, thereby preventing the sparkling and fizzy formation that causes taste deterioration, while still delivering the required health benefits.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If high amounts of organic acids (citric acid, malic acid) are present in the juice, then good taste and nutritional value are maintained, but gas production increases causing package bombage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the biological parameter of the bacterial strain selection to alter the metabolic pathway of organic acid degradation. By choosing strains with specific metabolic characteristics, the system maintains high organic acid content for taste quality while redirecting the metabolism to produce minimal CO2, thus preventing package bombage.
4Adaptability or versatility
If Bifidobacterium is used in acidic fruit juice, then probiotic diversity is increased, but the bacteria die due to sensitivity to low pH environments below 4
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the key parameter of bacterial strain selection by choosing Lactobacillus species that are inherently adapted to acidic environments (pH below 4). These strains have evolved to thrive in low pH conditions, making them suitable for fruit juice applications where Bifidobacterium would fail to survive. This parameter change in strain selection ensures both probiotic functionality and bacterial survival.
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 use of these gas formation reducers significantly reduces carbon dioxide production, maintaining the probiotic bacteria's viability and improving the taste, resulting in a stable and long-shelf-life probiotic fruit juice drink with a pleasant taste.
Implementation Method 1
Lactobacillus bacteria metabolize organic acids present in fruits and fruit juices. The metabolization causes the formation of gas such as carbon dioxide.
Implementation Method 2
Incorporating gas formation reducers such as acerola, pomegranate, cranberry, aronia, blackcurrant, buckthorn, or elderberry into the fruit juice drinks to reduce carbon dioxide production
Data Source
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AI summary
A probiotic fruit juice drink consisting of at least one species of probiotic bacteria chosen from Lactobacillus and at least one gas formation reducer chosen from acerola, pomegranate, cranberry, arqnia, blackcurrant, buckthorn or elderberry and any combination thereof and a primary fruit juice chosen from a citrus fruit juice or an pip fruit juice. The probiotic juice drink contains optionally a secondary fruit juice and optionally water.