Storage Stability of a Fermented Probiotic Beverage Enriched with Cricket Protein Hydrolysates

Cricket proteins were hydrolyzed and fermented with probiotic bacteria for the development of a nutraceutical beverage enriched with high nutritional value of cricket protein hydrolysates (CPH) and probiotics. Physicochemical, nutritional and microbiological quality of the CPH-based beverage having a total protein content of 13% was evaluated during 5 months of storage at 4 °C. Also, the effect of the beverage enrichment and fermentation was compared to non-enriched and non-fermented beverages. Results showed that the enrichment with CPH increased the viscosity, reduced the pH and increased the titratable acidity accompanied by the maintenance of a high concentration of viable probiotics compared to the non-enriched beverage with 8.45 log/mL after 5 months. Fermentation affected slightly the color parameters over time. Also, the fermented CPH showed a high content of low molecular weight (LMW) peptides < 260 Da which were continuously formed during storage to reach a percentage of 74.7% compared to 59.9% for the non-enriched ones. Moreover, probiotics presented a high resistance to the in vitro gastrointestinal conditions mainly for the CPH-enriched beverage which showed a survival rate of 83% of viable probiotics after 5 months. The sensory analysis of beverages showed that the CPH-based beverage was particularly appreciated for its texture and color, compared to its non-enriched counterpart.