Development of synbiotic beverage from beetroot juice using beneficial probiotic Lactobacillus Casei 431

A beetroot beverage with Lactobacillus casei 431 as the probiotic microorganism was tested for sensory acceptability at 3 fermentation periods of 2, 4 and 6 hours at 37^oC. The beverage fermented for 2 hours yielded the highest overall sensory acceptability. L. casei 431 grew well and reached nearly 10⁸ CFU/ mL after 2 hours of fermentation at 37^oC. Although the lactic culture in the fermented beetroot beverage gradually lost its viability during cold storage, viable cell count of lactic acid bacteria remained at 10⁶–10⁸ CFU/mL after 4 weeks of cold storage at 4^oC. Titratable acidity increased significantly from 5.5±0.05 to 3.45x10⁸ (P≤ 0.05) during storage. This study concludes that this beetroot-based synbiotic fermented beverage could be developed as a ready-to-drink product and kept for 6 weeks under refrigerated storage, meeting the standard 10⁸–10¹⁰ CFU/mL of a functional drink.