EFFCA publishes new industry guidance on food culture safety and labelling
The European Food & Fermentation Cultures Association (EFFCA) has published its Industry Guidance for the Quality, Safety, and Labelling of Food Cultures, a July 2026 document setting out best practice for the safety assessment, composition and labelling of food cultures (FC) used across dairy, meat, wine and baking applications.
Food cultures are defined in the guidance as safe live bacteria, yeasts or filamentous fungi used as food ingredients. They underpin the production of fermented foods such as yoghurt, and are also used in applications where fermentation is less visible, for example to inhibit Listeria monocytogenes growth on smoked salmon.
Safety assessment built on EFSA framework
The guidance draws on the 2025 EFSA guidance on the characterisation of microorganisms to establish a decision-tree approach to strain safety assessment. This covers species identification (preferably by whole genome sequencing), antimicrobial susceptibility testing, Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) status, antimicrobial production potential, and toxigenicity and pathogenicity screening.
For multi-strain food cultures, the document specifies that components making up more than 1% of the culture should be identified at species level, with hybrid sequencing suggested for filamentous fungi and yeasts.
The guidance also reiterates that responsibility for food safety sits with the Food Business Operator under Article 17(1) of the General Food Law Regulation (178/2002), unless it cannot be duly managed at that level.
Microbial purity specifications by application
A central feature of the document is a set of proposed microbiological specifications for FC preparations used in dairy, meat, wine and baking applications, covering process hygiene indicators such as Enterobacteriaceae, coagulase-positive staphylococci, and yeasts and moulds, alongside food safety criteria for Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes. Values differ according to whether preparations are supplied liquid, frozen or dried, and EFFCA notes that local regulations should always be consulted before products are marketed, as additional criteria may apply depending on end use.
Labelling recommendations for B2B and B2C markets
The guidance sets out recommended particulars for business-to-business labelling and accompanying documentation, including commercial name, species names in line with international nomenclature, product type, net content, lot identification, best-before date and storage conditions.
For business-to-consumer labelling, the document confirms that food cultures used as ingredients must appear on the final product’s ingredients list under Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, with exemptions potentially available under Articles 19 or 20. EFFCA suggests that food cultures may be listed under a generally understood category name such as “food cultures”.
Analytical methods flagged as indicative
The document includes a recommended list of analytical methods for cell counts and microbial contaminants, but cautions that compendia methods for cell counts and contaminants have largely been validated for final food products rather than FC preparations themselves. EFFCA states that Annex II “shall be seen as indicative rather than mandatory,” and that manufacturers should verify method suitability in-house.
