Microbiological Considerations for Probiotic Supplemented Foods

Functional properties of probiotics coupled with consumer's inclination towards healthful foods have projected probiotics as a new ingredient in functional food market. Probiotic containing foods exhibits diverse health ben-efits and the starter cultures employed for formulation of probiotic supplemented food must possess certain pre-requisite characteristics to exhibit prophylactic properties. Probiotic containing foods available in the market are often of poor quality and did not meet the desired level of viable microorganisms, required for exhibiting health benefits. In the present article an endeavor has been made to highlight the significance of probiotic viability and their population for exhibiting health benefits and the quality of probiotic containing foods available in the global market and prerequisites for identity of a product as a probiotic food have also been delineated. Production of probiotic supplemented food with prophylactic is emerging to build-up consumer's confidence for long-term sus-tainability of probiotic food industries.