Considering the mentioned elements and the protein/energy daily
needs of 2–6 years old children living in the poorest communities of
Brazil , our group formulated fermented products containing probiotic lactic acid bacteria
as a base for a dessert that could be an alternative to probiotic yoghurt
and integrate a school meal. To reach this purpose, gruels made of soy
milk and rice flour with or without total dietary fiber from passion fruit rinds were fermented by amylolytic (Lactobacillus fermentum Ogi E1 and
Lactobacillus plantarum A6) and commercial probiotic bacteria strains
(Lactobacillus acidophilus Lafti L10, Lactobacillus casei Lafti L26 and
Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis Lafti B94) in single culture or in
co-culture. The commercial probiotic bacteria selected have the status of
GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) and QPS (Qualified Presumption of
Safety), as reported by , and have been applied to the fermentation of soy
milk . The selected ALAB have been
used in the fermentation of rice-based foods. The structural characteristics and rheological parameters of a fermented food are profoundly affected by the composition of the ingredients and
the selection of bacteria strains . Thus, the co-cultures made of one amylolytic and one probiotic strain were employed in the fermentation of gruels made of rice flour and soy
milk, in order to verify if they are more able than the single cultures in promoting an improvement of some biotechnological and physical aspects of the fermented product. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the composition of ingredients of the food matrix and of bacterial culture on the apparent viscosity and flux behavior during
fermentation of rice/soy milk gruels. In order to explain the findings on
rheology, supplementary experiments were done on kinetics of acidification
and α-amylolytic activity of the bacteria aswell as the analysis ofmicrostructure
of the fermented products through scanning electron microscopy. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that amylolytic lactic acid bacteria isolated from vegetable matrices are used in coculture with commercial and dairy-adapted probiotic bacteria strains in
the fermentation of a soy milk/rice food matrix for the production of a
yoghurt-like food.