Ingredient dictionary

Selected ferments on a food label: allergens, diets and other names

Selected ferments are a kind of ferment. 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 246 products, most often in sweets.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 3 sourcesHow we check

Heads up

for a vegan profile

Do selected ferments contain an allergen?

It depends on how they were made. Open Food Facts does not link selected 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 selected ferments vegan?

It depends on the make. Some kinds of selected ferments are made with an animal product and a label rarely says which, so a vegan profile gets Heads up. Whether they are 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 do selected ferments have on a label?

On European labels they are “ferments sélectionnés” in French, “ausgewählte Kulturen” in German and “fermentos seleccionados” in Spanish. The other 4 languages are listed below.

French
ferments sélectionnés
German
ausgewählte Kulturen
Spanish
fermentos seleccionados
Italian
fermenti selezionati
Dutch
geselecteerde fermenten
Portuguese
fermentos selecionados
Croatian
odabrani fermenti

Which foods contain selected ferments?

Open Food Facts lists selected ferments in the ingredients of 246 products, most often sweets, beans and pulses and milk and yoghurt. Most of them are sold in France, Spain and Belgium.

  • Sweets120
  • Beans and pulses17
  • Milk and yoghurt16
  • Salty and fatty foods15
  • Sweetened drinks10
  • Dairy desserts7

Products with it, by country of sale: France 208 · Spain 37 · Belgium 6 · Switzerland 5.

Counted on 13 October 2026 from the Open Food Facts product database, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where selected ferments turn up, not how much of the market they are.

What kind of ingredient are selected ferments?

Selected ferments are 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.

  1. Open Food Facts: Selected ferments
  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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