Aims: To optimize a spray coating process for the production of encapsulated microspheres containing viable Bifidobacterium cells and to determine whether the readily gelatinized modified starch coating used in this study improved bacterial survival in foods or under acid conditions. Methods and Results: An air inlet temperature of 100 degreesC was demonstrated to be optimal for the spray drying process, as it afforded good drying, low outlet temperatures (45 degreesC) and resulted in less than I log reduction in bifidobacteria numbers during drying. Maximum recovery yields of 30% were obtained after optimizing the air aspiration conditions. The average size of the Bifidobacterium PL1-containing starch microparticles was determined by scanning electron microscopy to be of the order of 5 mum. The starch-coated cells did not display any enhanced viability compared with free PL1 cells when exposed to acid conditions for 6 h or in two dry food preparations cover 20 d storage at ambient temperature (19-24 degreesC). Determination of 1491 nucleotides of the 16S rRNA gene from PL1 indicated that it shared 97% homology with a previously sequenced Bifidobacterium ruminantium strain. Conclusions: Our data demonstrated that, although spray drying is a valuable process for encapsulating bifidobacteria, further work is required to ascertain a more appropriate coating material that will protect this strain against adverse environmental conditions. Significance and Impact of the Study: The production of small, uniformly coated microspheres containing viable bifidobacteria using an affordable and industrially convenient process, such as spray drying, has commercial implications for the production of probiotic products. Although popular for use as a coating polymer by the food industry, this study indicated that modified starches might not be suitable for use as an encapsulating material for probiotic strains.