Probiotic-fortified Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) juice: free or encapsulated Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus delbrueckii

Sep 30, 2026

Recent consumer interest in nutritious diets drives demand for functional and safety products such as probiotics. This study enriches Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) juice with both free and encapsulated probiotic bacteria. Encapsulation physicochemical attributes were first assessed, then tomato juice treatments (control without bacteria, free Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, and mixed dual-bacteria) were evaluated over 28 days. Assays covered pH, lycopene, turbidity, stability, antioxidant activity, probiotic viability, sensory properties, and structure.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

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Pages10

Reading Time25 min

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Abstract

Introduction

Tomato juice as a probiotic medium

Probiotics and relevant bacterial strains

Italian Journal of Food Safety 2025; volume 14:13932 Probiotic-fortified Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) juice: free or encapsulated Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus delbrueckii Reyhane Zakian, Marjan Nouri Department of Food Science and Technology, Ro.C., Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran Abstract Recent consumer perception of a nutritious diet improves demand for functional and safety products such as probiotics. The present research aims to investigate enriching Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) juice, including free and encapsulated probiotic bacteria. Initially, physicochemical attributes of encapsulations were evaluated. Then tomato juice samples, including a control without bacteria, free or encapsulated Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum, T1 and T2), Lactobacillus delbrueckii (L. delbrueckii, Correspondence: Marjan Nouri, Department of Food Science and Technology, Ro.C., Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran. Tel.: +2176505016. Fax: +2176507664. [E-mail: marjan.nouri@iau.ac.ir](E-mail: marjan.nouri@iau.ac.ir) Key words: encapsulation, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus plantarum, tomato juice, probiotic. Contributions: RZ, formal analysis, methodology, investigation and drafted manuscript, resources, software and visualization; MN, conceptualization, writing – review, editing supervision, conducted statistical and project administration. Conflict of interest: no conflict of interest declared by authors. Ethics approval and consent to participate: ethical clearance was obtained from the Internal Ethical Clearance in compliance with institutional research ethics policies or similar, based on their institutional norms. Availability of data and materials: data are available on request. Funding: none. Acknowledgments: the authors noticeably appreciate all participants who helped in the present study. Received: 28 April 2025. Accepted: 25 August 2025. Early access: 20 October 2025. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) . ©Copyright: the Author(s), 2025 Licensee PAGEPress, Italy Italian Journal of Food Safety 2025; 14:13932 doi:10.4081/ijfs.2025.13932 Publisher's note: all claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer isnot guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. T3 and T4), and a mixture (T5 and T6), were prepared over 28 days of shelf life. Several assays were performed, such as pH, lycopene, turbidity, stability, antioxidant, probiotic viability, sensory, and structure. Physicochemical functions of encapsulation illustrated that the results were in the suitable range. The pH ofall treatments declined, and free L. plantarum demonstrated a greater effect on reduction. The control and encapsulated L. plantarum samples exhibited the lowest lycopene, ranging from 0.64 to 0.35 μL/mL, while the highest ranged from 0.64 to 0.50 μL/mL during the shelf life. Encapsulated dual bacteria indicated higher turbidity, stability, and antioxidant features compared to the control throughout shelf life. The control maintained greater transparency than others, and microbial analysis indicated that probiotic populations were elevated until the 14th day and then reduced. The encapsulated dualbacteria illustrated the maximum viability and sensory, while the control had the minimum ratings. Morphological analysis confirmed a homogeneous structure for encapsulated bacteria. Overall results depicted that treatments containing encapsulated bacteria are considered the preferred option to promote nutritious juice. Introduction Solanum lycopersicum (tomato), as an important member of the Solanaceae family, is widely cultivated around the world (Pereira et al., 2023)

FAQs

What was the main goal of the research on tomato juice?

To investigate enriching Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) juice with free and encapsulated probiotic bacteria and evaluate their effects over shelf life.

How were the different treatments prepared and compared?

Tomato juice treatments included a control without bacteria, free Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, and mixed dual-bacteria, prepared over 28 days of shelf life.

Which measurements were used to assess the juice during storage?

The study assessed pH, lycopene, turbidity, stability, antioxidant activity, probiotic viability, sensory outcomes, and structure via morphological analysis.

Sep 30, 2026

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