LAB destroyed in blender?

[Lacto Bacto]

Hi. All I can find is ancidotal evidence concerning the destruction of Lactic Acid Bacteria in milk kefir when blended in a kitchen blender. Supposedly it disturbs the biofilm etc.

 

I was wondering if there exists any scientific evidence regarding this issue that would be worthy of using as a citation.

 

Thank you.

[CharonY]

Well, there are two things that happen. First is mechanical disruption and the second is heating. Both will kill some off. That being said, it depends a lot on the type of blender and the time it is being blended. Generally, the mechanical part will only kill a small fraction (at best) as they are so small that they are getting pushed around by the blade rather than being crushed. Quantitative lysis of bacteria using mechanical shear forces generally requires the addition of very small beads that crush the bacteria during agitation (referred to as bead beating). This is not the case with kefir in a blender.

Likewise you are probably not blend it until the kefir gets really hot.

 

Obviously, handling cells will always harm some, but chances are that the effects are at best small.

[Lacto Bacto]

Ha! My bad. Of course you are right. If blending was so destructive to bacteria, we wouldn't need water treatment plants. We could just scoop up some water from a puddle and run it through the blender and save billions of dollars. On the other hand, if I could figure out how to destroy bacteria with a blender, ** I ** could make billions selling blenders. Muhaahaaaa.