Abstract

An important issue related with functional foods development is the stability of physiologically active compounds. For example vitamins, minerals, probiotic bacteria are very sensitive to the technological processes involved in their obtention. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the viability of a probiotic strain (Lactobacillus rhamnosus) inside a food matrix (Granny smith apple) and physical parameters such as color (L* a* b*) of vacuum impregnated apple cylinders during a refrigerated and frozen storage. The results show that the viable probiotic bacteria inside food matrix maintain the minimal value to be considered as probiotic functional food (106 CFU/g), and the color parameters which are critical in refrigerated samples during their storage.