| Nowadays, regarding to human need to functional and probiotic foods and the extend use of these foods,
considerable attention is donated to production and development of probiotic products which eventually
can play an important role in improvement of society health.Additionally, investigations have identified
the chocolate as a proper carrier for probiotics. In the present study,probiotic chocolate containing
Lactobacillus casei was manufactured and then some of physicochemical parameters including pH and
water activity (aw) together with survival assessment of Lactobacilluscasei in chocolate were
investigated.Addition of Lactobacillus casei to chocolate haven’t had any adverse and significant effects
on physicochemical parameters such as pH and water activity during 6-month storage time at ambient and
refrigerated temperatures (P>0.05). According to obtained results, the amount of water activity in
probiotic chocolate was higher than control chocolate (P<0.05). Moreover, the survival of Lactobacillus
casei in probiotic chocolate didn’t changed significantly during 6 months storage at two different
temperatures of 4 and 22 ˚C (P>0.05).The obtained results declared that the enriched chocolate with
Lactobacillus casei can be stored at ambient temperature without having any unfavorable changes in its
physicochemical properties such as pH and water activity. Also, even with slight decrease in population
of probiotic bacteria of Lactobacillus casei during the 6-month storage time at temperatures of 4 and 22
˚C, but the final product which included 108 CFU/g probiotic cells can be considered as a functional
probiotic foodstuff. |