**Maria Tsevdou 1, Maria Ouli-Rousi 1, Christos Soukoulis <sup>2</sup> and Petros Taoukis 1,\***


Received: 14 February 2020; Accepted: 17 March 2020; Published: 19 March 2020

**Abstract:** The impact of high-pressure (HP) processing on the viability of two probiotic microorganisms (*Bifidobacterium bifidum* and *Lactobacillus casei*) at varying pressure (100−400 MPa), temperature (20−40 ◦C) and pH (6.5 vs. 4.8) conditions was investigated. Appropriate mathematical models were developed to describe the kinetics of the probiotics viability loss under the implemented HP conditions, aiming to the development of a predictive tool used in the design of HP-processed yoghurt-like dairy products. The validation of these models was conducted in plain and sweet cherry-flavored probiotic dairy beverage products pressurized at 100−400M Pa at ambient temperature for 10 min. The microbiological, rheological, physicochemical and sensory characteristics of the HP-treated probiotic dairy beverages were determined in two-week time intervals and for an overall 28 days of storage. Results showed that the application of HP in the range of 200−300 MPa had minimal impact on the probiotic strains viability throughout the entire storage period. In addition, the aforementioned HP processing conditions enhanced the rheological and sensory properties without affecting post-acidification compared to the untreated product analogues.

**Keywords:** probiotics; viability model; high-pressure processing; rheology; sensory quality; fermented dairy beverage
