On August 16, Balchem Encapsulates, a business segment of the American company Balchem Corporation, and Institut Rosell, the Human Nutrition and Health Group of the Lallemand company, announced a breakthrough in the encapsulation of probiotics. It tool over two years of collaboration between Balchem and Institut Rosell to develop a stabilised form of encapsulated probiotics. "Manufacturers have struggled for years with probiotics. The bacteria often die during processing or during the passage to the intestine. Shelf life is unpredictable and the industry has had difficulty with label claims," said Winston Samuels, Ph.D., vice president and general manager of Balchem Encapsulates. "Now, through this collaboration that combines Institut Rosell's extensive experience working with probiotics and Balchem's unique encapsulation expertise, manufacturers can utilise probiotics in ways never thought possible." The companies formed a strategic alliance where Balchem applies its proprietary encapsulation technology to widely used strains of probiotics from Institut Rosell. After extensive research and development, the companies successfully created an encapsulate that greatly increases the probiotics' stability and survival rate. According to the companies, clinical testing has revealed that tablets with the encapsulated probiotics had an unprecedented 100 percent recovery rate.
