title: Refrigerated Shelf Life of a Coconut Water-Oatmeal Mix and the Viability ofLactobacillus PlantarumLp 115-400B.
abstract: Non-dairy probiotic products have the advantage of being lactose-free and can be manufactured to sustain the growth of probiotics. In this study, coconut water and oatmeal were used with the probiotic,Lactobacillus plantarumLp 115-400B (L. plantarum) as a starter culture. Two separate treatments were carried out probiotic (P) and probiotic and prebiotic (PP) added. In both treatments, oatmeal-coconut water matrix was inoculated with 7 log CFU/g ofL. plantarumand fermented at 27 °C for 10 h. For the PP treatment, 1 g of inulin/100 mL of the product was added additionally. The fermented products were then refrigerated (4 °C) and the viability ofL. plantarum, pH, total acidity, and apparent viscosity of the matrix were monitored at selected time intervals. The shelf life to reach was defined by maintenance ofL. plantarumcount of 7 log CFU/g product. Refrigerated shelf life was determined to be seven-weeks for the P treatment and five-weeks for PP treatment. A significant reduction of pH was observed at the end of the considered shelf life; conversely, the apparent viscosity of the product did not change significantly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Nutrition, and Packaging Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA. muthud@g.clemson.edu.
authors.forename: Muthu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dharmasena
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Nutrition, and Packaging Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA. fbarron@clemson.edu.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barron
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Nutrition, and Packaging Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA. afraser@clemson.edu.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Nutrition, and Packaging Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA. xiuping@clemson.edu.
authors.forename: Xiuping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
keywords: coconut water-oatmeal; fermentation; non-dairy probiotics; shelf life; viability