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Traditionally, dairy products have been the primary medium for delivering probiotics to humans. However, despite their numerous health benefits, such as nutrient supply and prevention and treatment of certain diseases, there are limitations to their use in many regions, including Africa. These limitations arise from allergens, lactose intolerance, hypercholesterolemia effects, the need for vegetarian options, cultural food taboos against milk, and religious beliefs. As a result, research efforts worldwide have focused on probiotics with health benefits. To address this issue, an integrative approach has been adopted, consolidating ideas and concepts from various studies. Researchers have explored different food matrices to determine their potential as probiotic carriers, specifically emphasizing cereals and cereal products. Studies have revealed that traditional African fermented cereal-based beverages show promise as probiotic carriers due to the presence of probiotic organisms involved in the fermentation process. This presents an opportunity to utilize African cereal beverages to deliver. This review paper provides comprehensive information on probiotics, including their sources, types, health benefits, and delivery vehicles. Specifically, it highlights the challenges and prospects for developing and consuming cereal-based probiotics in Africa. This opens up new avenues for providing probiotic benefits to a broader African population and contributes to the advancement of probiotic research and development in the region., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

This study aimed to enhance Kemesha by incorporating a blend of composite flours, including germinated haricot bean, ultrasonicated fine-milled pumpkin, CMC (Carboxymethyl cellulose), and common wheat flour. Additionally, a D-optimal design was employed to optimize the formulation and achieve the desired outcome. Protein, fibre, total carotenoid content, and firmness were responses for optimizing Kemesha formulation. The numerical optimization and model validation results indicated that it is feasible to use a flour composition of 63.00 g common wheat flour, 19.01 g germinated haricot bean flour, 14.51 g ultrasonicated fine-milled pumpkin flour, and 3.48 g carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) per 100 g of flour to prepare Kemesha with desirability of 0.596. The proximate composition analysis results showed that the optimized Kemesha had higher levels of fibre, ash, and protein compared to the control Kemesha , whereas the carbohydrate content was significantly lower. The studies on color estimation revealed that the yellow color of the product was slightly increased during the optimization of Kemesha (15.09-31.09), while the brightness index was reduced from 89.38 to 74.44. Compared to the control kemesha, the optimized Kemesha had a total phenolic, flavonoid, and carotenoid content of 7.47, 3.67, and 149.20 times greater. The cooking loss (4.95%) and water absorption (220.68%) of optimized Kemesha were improved compared to control Kemesha . The composite significantly improved the sensory qualities of both raw and cooked Kemesha , including surface smoothness, resistance to break, appearance, texture, color, and overall acceptance., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Enset ( Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) (false banana) plant is a multipurpose traditional crop widely cultivated in the south and southwestern Ethiopia. A study was conducted to determine the predominant microbes from kocho for subsequent use as a starter culture. Accordingly, a total of 40 lactic acid bacteria associated with kocho were characterized both at the phenotypic and genotypic level. Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis , Lactobacillus paracasei/casei and Lactobacillus fermentum were the isolated strains during kocho fermentation. Most L. plantarum showed rapid acidification and the higher growth rate than L. brevis . Based on these results L. plantarum (n = 10) and L. brevis (n = 3) were selected as possible starter strains and applied to enset pulp in laboratory scale. These starter strains showed fast pH reduction, increased microbial load than control sample and the possibility of a single strain in the fermentation of enset pulps for the production of kocho., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare no conflict of interest.