Ingredient dictionary
Microbial culture on a food label: allergens, diets and other names
Microbial culture is a kind of ferment. Some kinds of microbial culture carry an allergen (soy and milk). Whether it is vegan depends on how it was made. Open Food Facts finds it in 74,863 products, most often in cheese.
By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 4 sourcesHow we check
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for a soy allergy profile
Does microbial culture contain an allergen?
It depends on the kind. Some kinds of microbial culture carry an allergen: tempeh culture contains soy; yogurt culture contains milk. A label must name the allergen, so check which kind it says.
Is microbial culture vegan?
It depends on the make. Some kinds of microbial culture 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.
A pack can differ from the usual recipe: the app reads the label in your hand.
What other names does microbial culture have on a label?
In English microbial culture can also read “culture”, “active cultures” or “live cultures”. On European labels it is “culture bactérienne” in French, “mikrobielle Kultur” in German and “Cultivo microbiano” in Spanish. The other 11 languages are listed below.
- French
- culture bactérienne, ferments naturels
- German
- mikrobielle Kultur, Kulturen
- Spanish
- Cultivo microbiano
- Italian
- coltura microbiotica, coltura
- Dutch
- microbiële cultuur
- Portuguese
- Cultura microbial
- Polish
- Kultury bakterii, żywe kultury bakterii
- Swedish
- mikrobiell kultur, kultur
- Danish
- aktive kulturer, levende kulturer
- Finnish
- mikrobiviljelmä, viljelmä
- Czech
- Mikrobiální kultura, startovací kultura
- Hungarian
- baktérium kultúra, baktériumkultúra
- Romanian
- Culturi microbiene
- Croatian
- mikrobne kulture
Which foods contain microbial culture?
Open Food Facts lists microbial culture or a more specific kind of it in the ingredients of 74,863 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 36,727 · France 18,019 · Germany 4,171 · Spain 2,935.
Counted on 13 October 2026 from the Open Food Facts product database, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where microbial culture turns up, not how much of the market it is.
What kind of ingredient is microbial culture?
Microbial culture is a kind of 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.
- Open Food Facts: Microbial culture
- 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: Microbiological culture
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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