Ingredient dictionary
Lactic ferments on a food label: allergens, diets and other names
Lactic ferments are a kind of microbial culture. Whether they carry an allergen depends on how they were made. Whether they are vegan depends on how they were made. Open Food Facts finds them in 66,069 products, most often in cheese.
By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 4 sourcesHow we check
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Do lactic ferments contain an allergen?
It depends on how they were made. Open Food Facts does not link lactic ferments to an allergen, and Bravoora’s label checker does not read the name as one. The label must name any allergen they carry.
Are lactic ferments vegan?
It depends on the make. Some kinds of lactic ferments are made with an animal product and a label rarely says which, so a vegan profile gets Heads up. They are vegetarian.
A pack can differ from the usual recipe: the app reads the label in your hand.
What other names do lactic ferments have on a label?
In English lactic ferments can also read “lactic starters”, “lactic cultures” or “live yoghurt bacteria cultures”. On European labels they are “ferment lactique” in French, “Milchfermenten” in German and “fermentos lácticos” in Spanish. The other 12 languages are listed below.
- French
- ferment lactique, ferments lactique
- German
- Milchfermenten, Milchsäurekulturen
- Spanish
- fermentos lácticos, fermentos lácteos
- Italian
- fermenti lattici, coltura di batteri acidolattici
- Dutch
- melkfermenten, melkkiemen
- Portuguese
- fermentos lácteos, culturas lácteas
- Polish
- żywe kultury bakterii jogurtowych, bakterie fermentacji mlekowej
- Swedish
- syrningskultur, syrakultur
- Danish
- yoghurtkultur, starterkultur
- Norwegian
- melkesyrekultur, starterkultur
- Finnish
- maitohappokäyte, maitohappokannat
- Czech
- bakterie mléčného kvašení, mléčné ferminty
- Hungarian
- tejsavbaktériumok, tejsavbaktérium
- Romanian
- culturi lactice, culturi lactice selecționate
- Croatian
- mljekarska kultura, mljekarske kulture
Which foods contain lactic ferments?
Open Food Facts lists lactic ferments or a more specific kind of them in the ingredients of 66,069 products, most often cheese, milk and yoghurt and ready meals. Most of them are sold in the United States, France and Germany.
Products with it, by country of sale: United States 30,742 · France 17,590 · Germany 3,879 · Spain 2,873.
Counted on 13 October 2026 from the Open Food Facts product database, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where lactic ferments turn up, not how much of the market they are.
What kind of ingredient are lactic ferments?
Lactic ferments are a kind of microbial culture.
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.
- Open Food Facts: Lactic ferments
- Open Food Facts: ingredients taxonomy (names, family tree, allergen and vegan flags), ODbL
- Open Food Facts: product database, 4,535,553 products, read 13 October 2026, ODbL
- Wikipedia: Lactic acid bacteria
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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