Culture replacement

Replace the culture you use today

Most manufacturers arrive here with a culture already in the vat. Tell us what it is and what you make with it. A dairy technologist identifies the culture type, works out which LACTOFERM® cultures are genuinely comparable for your process, and designs the side-by-side trial with you.

Your current starter culture

None of this is required. Whatever you can tell us shortens the conversation — the rest the technologist will ask about directly.

Manufacturer / brand

Product name or code

What do you manufacture with it?

Pack size Optional — in units (U), as printed on the pack

What would you like to improve? The single most useful thing you can tell a technologist

What do you like about it? Optional — so a replacement does not lose what already works

Anything printed on the datasheet Optional — culture type, temperature, texture. Helps identify the type quickly.

Everything you enter here is carried into the consultation form on the next screen — you will not be asked for it twice.

How this works

You tell us what is in the vat today.
A dairy technologist identifies the culture type and behavior from the details and the datasheet.
You get candidate cultures with the reasoning, plus a dose rate for your milk.
You trial the candidate side-by-side with your current culture, on the same milk.

No supplier can promise a drop-in replacement for a live culture — and no software can pick one for you. Strain composition, dose and enzyme activity all differ. The honest answer is a technologist's shortlist plus a properly designed side-by-side trial, which is exactly what we will help you run.

Rather just describe it?

If you would prefer to skip the structured questions and write it in your own words, the consultation form takes free text and attachments.

Go straight to the form

Before you switch

Run the trial properly, or the result means nothing

Same milk, same day

Compare current and candidate on the same line on the same day. Comparing this week against last month measures seasonality, not culture.

Measure the curve

Record the full acidification curve, not just the endpoint. Curve shape is where cultures actually differ.

Hold to end of shelf life

Bitterness, post-acidification and body loss appear at week three, not on day one.

Read the full switching protocol