EFFECT OF DIFFERENT EXCIPIENTS AND PACKAGING MATERIALS ON COMMERCIAL PREPARATION OF PROBIOTIC FORMULATION

Probiotic formulations are now widely accepted throughout the world for therapeutic applications as these organisms have a long history of safe use (GRAS). There are two main challenges to make a probiotic formulation viable for commercial utilization. The first one is the quality of health attributes that the probiotic organisms can confer and the second one is the stability of the formulation till the end of its shelf life. With our promising probiotic blend (a mixture of probiotic organisms) as API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient), we have tried to develop a sachet containing probiotic formulation by using different types of excipients and packaging options. Among the excipients that were tried, a commercial variety of mannitol was found to be most suitable. Appropriate packaging material is most vital for enhancement of the shelf life of a formulation. Three types of laminates were used for making sachets for protecting the probiotic formulation against moisture and oxygen. Among them, type 1 (combination of Paper/Polyethylene/Aluminium foil/Polyethylene) was found to give maximum protection when stored at 25 degrees C temperature and 60 % RH.