The nutritional food ingredients division of Lallemand, Lal’ Food, in partnership with a leading chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut, have developed a process to include probiotics into chocolate.

After several years of research and development and Lallemand’s expertise in the microencapsulation or probiotics, “probiotic chocolate” was born. Stability studies have shown that the probiotics ( strains Lactobacillus Rosell-52 and Bifidobacterium Rosell-175) are stable in chocolate for up to one year at room temperature. Moreover, some studies done by scientists at Ghent University using an in vitro model of the human digestive tract (SHIME) have shown that the probiotics contained in chocolate survive the digestive process, and most surprisingly, a three-fold increase in stability was found when compared to a dairy matrix: chocolate appears as a better carrier than milk for the intestinal delivery of probiotics!

The probiotic chocolate is now produced industrially by Barry Callebaut in different versions (dark, milk or white), in liquid or solid forms, and marketed to the confectionery, baking and food industries around the globe for various applications (biscuit fillings, coating, chocolate chips, cereals, cereal bars…)
And, to those who shall worry about calories, we will argue that a daily portion of only 13.5 grams of chocolate is necessary to get the recommended amount of friendly bacteria! And, to answer the question on everybody’s mind, and after thorough internal trials at Lallemand Animal Nutrition: yes, it does taste very good!

For more info, watch the interview of Bruno Delattre, European Business Director of Lal’Food, during the Vitafoods trade show in Geneva, on Nutraingredients.com.