Probiotics are microorganisms which confer health benefits upon application in sufficiently-high viable cell amounts. Probiotics are typically members of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species commonly associated with human gastrointestinal tracts. In the recent past, there has been an explosion of probiotic health-based products. Many reports indicated that there is poor survival of probiotic bacteria in these products. Further, the survival of these bacteria in the human gastro-intestinal system is questionable. Providing probiotic living cells with a physical barrier against adverse environmental conditions is therefore an approach currently receiving considerable interest. The development of a suitable technologies and processes for the maintenance of viable probiotic cells are considered as key steps in the production of functional foods. Microencapsulation of the probiotic cells is one of the newest and highly efficient methods, which is now under the especial attention and is being developed by various researchers. Dairy products represent one of the biggest market segments among functional foods as they have been proposed as the most promising vehicles for the delivery functional ingredients such as probiotic, prebiotics, proteins, vitamins and minerals. More studies, however, need to be conducted on the efficacy of micro-encapsulation to deliver probiotic bacteria and their controlled or targeted release in the yogurt and other fermented dairy products

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