To effectively evaluate the survival of bifidobacteria encapsulated in beads, a method of releasing the cells from gellan–xanthan beads was developed. Enumeration of viable cells in beads involved steps of immobilizing bifidobacteria in beads, exposing the beads to phosphate buffer, and grinding the beads in a mortar with a pestle. As the original bifidobacterial cell concentration in both 1 ml of beads and 1 ml of free cells was the same, the viable count difference between immobilized and free cells indicated a loss of viable cells during those procedures. Usually, dissolution of calcium alginate beads involved incubation of the beads at room temperature with pH 7.0 sodium phosphate buffer for a few hours (Fraser and Bickerstaff, 1997)