Exploratory Study for Probiotic Enrichment of a Sea Fennel (Crithmum maritimum L.) Preserve in Brine

Considering the increasing consumer demand for vegan and vegetarian health foods,different vegetables have been already exploited to produce non-dairy probiotic foods. In addition tobeing rich in bioactive compounds, sea fennel (Crithmum maritimum L.), also known as rock samphire,represents a valuable candidate in the production of probiotic-enriched foods, and, to the authors’knowledge, it has not yet been explored as carrier for probiotics. Hence, the present study wasaimed at evaluating the survival of a commercially available probiotic formulation, SYNBIO®, andLactiplantibacillus plantarum IMC 509 in an artificially acidified, pasteurized sea fennel preserve inbrine during a refrigerated storage of 44 days. Despite slight reductions in the microbial loads, at theend of the storage, both the probiotic formulations showed loads higher than 7.0 Log CFU g-1 ofsea fennel or mL-1 of brine, above the recommended administration dose to exert beneficial healtheffects. Thus, acidified sea fennel sprouts in brine represent a potential vehicle for probiotics deliveryto humans.