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Ingredient dictionary

Ferment on a food label: allergens, diets and other names

Whether ferment carries an allergen depends on how it was made. Whether it is vegan depends on how it was made. Open Food Facts finds it in 86,370 products, most often in cheese.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 3 sourcesHow we check

Heads up

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Does ferment contain an allergen?

It depends on how it was made. Open Food Facts does not link ferment to an allergen, and Bravoora’s label checker does not read the name as one. The label must name any allergen it carries.

Is ferment vegan?

It depends on the make. Some kinds of ferment are made with an animal product and a label rarely says which, so a vegan profile gets Heads up. Whether it is vegetarian depends on the make too.

VeganHeads upSome kinds are made with an animal product, and a label rarely says which.
VegetarianHeads upSome kinds are made with an animal product vegetarians avoid, and a label rarely says which.

A pack can differ from the usual recipe: the app reads the label in your hand.

What other names does ferment have on a label?

On European labels it is “ferments” in French, “fermentiert” in German and “fermentos” in Spanish. The other 10 languages are listed below.

French
ferments, cultures
German
fermentiert
Spanish
fermentos
Italian
fermenti
Dutch
rijpingscultuur
Portuguese
fermento, fermentos
Polish
Fermentacja
Swedish
jäsa, syrningsmedel
Danish
gæret
Norwegian
fermentere, gjære
Finnish
hapate, hapatteet
Czech
Kvasnice
Hungarian
fermentált, erjesztett

Which foods contain ferment?

Open Food Facts lists ferment or a more specific kind of it in the ingredients of 86,370 products, most often cheese, milk and yoghurt and processed meat. Most of them are sold in the United States, France and Germany.

  • Cheese22,078
  • Milk and yoghurt12,969
  • Processed meat4,217
  • Ready meals4,100
  • Pizzas, pies and quiches3,503
  • Dairy desserts2,588

Products with it, by country of sale: United States 36,806 · France 26,111 · Germany 5,603 · Spain 3,256.

Counted on 13 October 2026 from the Open Food Facts product database, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where ferment turns up, not how much of the market it is.

What kind of ingredient is ferment?

Kinds of fermentMicrobial cultureMaturing fermentsSelected fermentsRhizopus cultureBlue mold cultureKefir ferment

Bravoora reads this ingredient for everyone you shop for: an allergy or intolerance, a vegan or vegetarian diet, a calorie or protein goal, and the labels on supplements and skincare too. Build a profile · For dietitians, doctors and trainers

Sources

An allergen is stated only when two of three checks agree: the Open Food Facts record, Bravoora’s label checker, and the ingredient’s own name or family (oat flour is oats, a cheese is milk). Every name where they disagree waits for a person to review it.

  1. Open Food Facts: Ferment
  2. Open Food Facts: ingredients taxonomy (names, family tree, allergen and vegan flags), ODbL
  3. Open Food Facts: product database, 4,535,553 products, read 13 October 2026, ODbL

Contains information from Open Food Facts, which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Read the licence · Download this dictionary’s data · How we check

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