Title : Study of potential synergistic effect of probiotic formulas in food toxin reduction
Abstract:
Ethyl carbamate (EC), one of the process-induced food toxicants, usually formed in alcoholic beverages and fermented food products. Different methods have been developed to reduce the level of toxicants in food products. In this study, the potential synergistic effects of selected probiotic formulas to reduce EC was investigated. Five selected probiotics, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus plantarum, Bifidobacterium lactis, and Streptococcus thermophilus, were incubated with different levels of EC chemical solutions to examine its EC reducing capacity. Three probiotics with higher efficacy on EC reduction under 108 CFU/mL cell concentration were selected for probiotic formulas. The probiotic formulas were incubated with (i) standard chemical solutions, (ii) selected wine samples (yellow wine, sake and plum wine) as well as (iii) in-vitro digestion model to evaluate the reduction of of EC. LC-MS was used to analyse levels of EC of samples. Synergistic effect of the probiotic formula was only observed in some selected wine samples and the reduction percentage of EC by a combination of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Lactobacillus plantarum is significantly higher (p<0.05) than that by single strain of Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus paracasei. In conclusion, the reduction of EC by probiotics was demonstrated. However, the synergistic effect of probiotics formulas on reduction of EC and its mechanism of the EC reduction required further studies in the future.
