Moreover, Table 2 shows the viability of free and encapsulated probiotic bacteria with and without prebiotic uncoated and coated beads when exposed to 0.6 g/100 ml bile salt solution (pH 8.25) at 37 C for 120 min. The initial cell count for free cells before bile salt treatment was 6.8 ± 2.3 1013 cfu/ml which reduced to 9.8 ± 0.2 107 cfu/ml after 120 min incubation in 0.6 g/100 ml bile salt solution. About 1.02 log reduction in viable cells was observed for alginate coated chitosan after 120 min in bile salt solution and about 0.7e0.9 log reduction for alginate/inulin coated chitosan cells as compared to 2.7e2.8 log reduction for alginate/inulin with different chain lengths (without coating), 3.9 log reduction for alginate encapsulated and 5.7 log for free cells (Table 2).