Maintaining probiotic viability through manufacturing remains one a major challenge in functional food development. Thermal exposure, mechanical stress, and moisture changes during processing can significantly reduce the number of live microorganisms delivered in finished products. This constraint has historically limited probiotic use to formats such as capsules, refrigerated beverages, or minimally processed foods.

Recent work evaluating BeneSpore™ Bacillus velezensis BV379, a spore-forming probiotic, provides insight into how strain selection may influence survivability across more demanding food systems. Unlike traditional strains such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, spore-forming organisms are structurally adapted to withstand environmental stressors, making them a candidate for broader application.

STUDY OVERVIEW

The study assessed the viability of BV379 before and after incorporation into two distinct food matrices designed to mimic commercially relevant processing conditions:

• Extruded puffs: A high-protein, grain-free snack formulated with high quality dairy proteins, processed at temperatures up to 220°F.
• Gummies: A confectionery system containing gelatin, sugars, and galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), processed at temperatures up to 140°F.

To provide context, equivalent extruded products were also produced using Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains. Viability was measured using standard plate count methods, reported as colony-forming units per gram (CFU/g), both pre- and post-processing.

KEY FINDINGS

The results highlight meaningful differences in strain resilience under identical processing conditions:

• Extruded puffs (high heat, high shear)
  • BV379: Retained ~80% of initial viability (93 million CFU/g to 74.5 million CFU/g)
  • Bifidobacterium: Retained <1% (62.7 million to ~410,000 CFU/g)
  • Lactobacillus: Retained <1% (62.8 million to ~260,000 CFU/g)
• Gummies (moderate heat)
  • BV379: Retained ~50% of initial viability (290 million CFU/g to 143 million CFU/g)

Across both matrices, BV379 demonstrated substantially higher survival compared to conventional probiotic strains, particularly under the more extreme conditions of extrusion.

SUMMARY

This study demonstrates that Bacillus velezensis BV379 retains substantially higher viability than traditional probiotic strains when exposed to both high-temperature extrusion and moderate-heat confectionery processing. The data support the potential for incorporating probiotics into a wider range of food formats, including those that have historically been incompatible with live microorganisms.

As demand for functional foods continues to grow, ingredient technologies that align biological stability with real-world processing conditions will play an increasingly important role in enabling innovation.

This data was first presented at Probiota Americas in June 2026.

REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.