History of Starter Cultures
By the 19th century, the discovery of microorganisms and a better understanding of fermentation chemistry had helped explain fermented products. As technology advanced, it became possible to control spontaneous production and develop healthier, more standardized methods of making fermented foods. Starter cultures emerged from this process.
Today, fermented foods such as dairy products, meat products, cereal products, fruit and vegetable products, alcoholic beverages and soy-based products are produced by large commercial enterprises globally using the fermentation technique.
In this context, the studies of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) about 150 years ago are considered a milestone in fermented food technology. Pasteur, who gave his name to the “pasteurization” process, which is a fundamental process in the dairy industry, explained that this change in fermented foods occurs due to the activities of microorganisms and laid the foundations of the starter culture and fermented food production technique.
In light of these studies, in the 1860s, researchers such as Storch, Weigman, and Cohn used sour whey and buttermilk to make new butter and cheese; and they obtained better quality products.
In 1873, about ten years after Pasteur’s fermentation studies, Lister produced the first pure culture of a lactic acid bacterium. By 1890, the first commercial company producing starter cultures for dairy products had been established in Denmark (Chr. Hansen).
In the 1950s, advances in lyophilization helped spread the use of starter cultures to wider geographical regions.
Definition, Characteristics and Classification of Starter Cultures
A starter culture is “a microbial preparation containing a very high number of cells (such as 1012 g-1) of one or more microorganism species to be added to the raw material to produce a fermented food by accelerating and directing the fermentation process.”
The traditional production of fermented foods is based on spontaneous fermentation due to naturally occurring microflora in the raw material. The quality of the final product thus depends on the raw material’s initial microbial load and spectrum.
The direct addition of selected starter cultures to raw materials marked a turning point in fermented food processing, enabling greater control over fermentation and more consistent end products. Strains with suitable physiological and metabolic characteristics were isolated from their natural habitats or from successfully fermented products.
A study published in 2026 estimated the global dairy starter culture market at approximately USD 1.41 billion in 2025 and projected that it would reach USD 2.06 billion by 2031. Europe held the largest share in 2025 at approximately 36%, followed by North America at 27%; Latin America accounted for around 7%, and the Middle East and Africa for 5%. Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing region, with annual growth of approximately 9.5%. (Deep Market Insights, 2026)
Worldwide, dairy production using starter cultures is concentrated mainly in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. In developing and less-developed countries, their use has remained more limited, in line with the level of industrial development.
However, to ensure the continuity of local flavors, especially in Europe, many types of cheese produced by traditional methods without using starter culture are protected by law.
Starter cultures are subject to different classifications according to various criteria. This classification is given in the table below. According to their commercial forms, cultures are divided into liquid, powder and frozen cultures.
Starter cultures were initially produced in liquid form. Liquid cultures, which can remain viable for about one week at 5 °C, are now being replaced by powdered and frozen cultures because of their limited stability, high contamination risk, rapid changes in the strain proportions of mixed cultures, and laborious preparation for use.
However, the ease of direct use of powdered and frozen cultures produced in high concentration, known as DVS (Direct Vat Set) or DVI (Direct Vat Inoculation), has been an important reason for preference.
Powdered cultures are obtained by drying liquid cultures through spray-drying or lyophilization. They contain far more microbial cells per unit mass than liquid cultures and can be stored for up to 6 months at 5 °C or up to 1 year at −20 °C.
On the other hand, frozen cultures are produced by freezing liquid cultures at -20 to -40oC or in liquid nitrogen at -196oC and can be stored for up to 3 months at -45oC and up to one year at -196oC.
Under another classification, mesophilic cultures contain microorganisms that grow optimally at 20–30 °C, whereas thermophilic cultures contain microorganisms with an optimum growth temperature of 37–45 °C.
Cultures can also be classified by the strains they contain. A culture consisting of one strain of a species is a “single-strain culture”; one containing different strains of the same species is a “multi-strain culture”; and one combining strains from more than one species is a “mixed culture”.
It should be noted here that single-strain cultures are highly susceptible to phages. Multi-strain and mixed cultures are more resistant to phage attacks because other strains can continue to work even if one strain they contain becomes inactive due to the phage.
Classification by type is a further subdivision of mesophilic cultures. Type L contains Leuconostoc; type D contains Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis; type DL contains both Leuconostoc and Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis; and type O contains no aroma-producing strains.
Although most of them are bacteria, microorganisms such as yeast and mold can also be used as starter cultures in the dairy industry. For example, Penicillium roqueforti molds are used to produce roquefort cheese, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus bacteria are used as starter cultures in yogurt production.
In kefir, yeasts such as Kluyveromyces lactis, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Torula kefir and Saccharomyces cerevisiae are combined with bacteria such as Levilactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lacticaseibacillus casei, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Streptococcus salivarius, Lactococcus lactis, Lactococcus cremoris and Leuconostoc mesenteroides to form a complex mixed starter culture.
Undoubtedly, microorganisms used as starter cultures are selected according to the product and its characteristics.
Generally speaking, the industry’s most critical feature expected from a starter culture is producing lactic acid from lactose. In addition, it is among the desired properties to provide the aroma and texture specific to the product, inhibit unwanted microorganisms in the product due to increased acidity and produce components such as H2O2, nisin, diacetyl, and acetaldehyde.
A wide range of other characteristics also influence starter culture selection. These include the ability to produce compounds such as exopolysaccharides, which can improve product structure and benefit human health, as well as susceptibility to antibiotics.
On the other hand, nowadays, scientists have focused on probiotic starter culture studies, and probiotic products have become very popular.
References
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Kongo, J. M. (2013). Lactic Acid Bacteria as Starter-Cultures for Cheese Processing: Past, Present and Future Developments. In J. M. Kongo (Ed.), Lactic Acid Bacteria—R & D for Food, Health and Livestock Purposes. IntechOpen.
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Cogan, T. M., Beresford, T. P., Steele, J., Broadbent, J., Shah, N. P., & Ustunol, Z. (2007). Invited review: Advances in starter cultures and cultured foods. Journal of Dairy Science, 90(9), 4005–4021.
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Halil İbrahim Akgül
Halil Ibrahim Akgul, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Food Engineering at Bayburt University, where he works in the Division of Food Sciences within the Faculty of Engineering. He received his B.Sc. in Food Engineering from Akdeniz University in 2010, followed by an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Food Engineering from Atatürk University in 2015 and 2020, respectively. His formally recognised academic fields are Food Sciences and Engineering, Food Technologies, Dairy and Dairy Products Technology, and Food Microbiology.
Dr. Akgul has more than fifteen years of professional, research, and academic experience in food science. Between 2011 and 2013, he worked as the food engineer responsible for operations at the Pilot Dairy and Bread Factory of Atatürk University’s Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises. This industrial experience, combined with his subsequent academic research, gave him extensive practical and scientific knowledge of milk processing, dairy production, food quality, hygiene, and product development.
His research is primarily focused on milk and dairy products, dairy microbiology, starter cultures, lactic acid bacteria, exopolysaccharides, butter technology, and the physicochemical, microbiological, sensory, and nutritional properties of foods. His studies have examined the quality and fatty-acid composition of traditional butter, aroma formation in butter produced with different starter cultures, raw-milk quality, the characterisation and antioxidant activity of bacterial exopolysaccharides, traditional dairy products such as çökelek and karın kaymağı, colostrum powder, and the use of fruit-derived ingredients in ice cream production.
His academic record includes peer-reviewed research articles published in national and international journals, including Mljekarstvo, Acta Scientiarum Technology, the Journal of Food Safety and Food Quality, the International Journal of Food Engineering, the Atatürk University Journal of Agricultural Faculty, and ATA Food Journal. Four of the research articles currently listed in his university profile were published in SCI-Expanded-indexed journals. He has also contributed to twelve national and international conference papers and presentations covering dairy products, food microbiology, butter quality, fatty-acid composition, starter cultures, exopolysaccharide-producing bacteria, colostrum, traditional foods, and functional ice-cream formulations.
Dr. Akgul has participated as a researcher or adviser in eleven completed scientific and applied research projects. These projects have addressed the modernisation of pilot dairy-processing facilities; the production and quality characteristics of colostrum powder; the physicochemical and microbiological quality of butter and raw milk; the identification of exopolysaccharide-producing lactic acid bacteria; the development and production optimisation of starter cultures for mould-ripened cheese; the standardisation of traditional dairy products; and the use of sloe berry and persimmon fibre in ice-cream production.
His teaching experience spans undergraduate, associate-degree, and graduate education. The courses he has taught include Food Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Fermented Dairy Products Technology, Butter Production and Processing Technology, Healthy Living and Nutrition, Organic Agriculture and Food, Popular Science, Digital Literacy, and Information Technologies. Through these courses, he combines fundamental food chemistry and engineering principles with dairy technology, nutrition, scientific literacy, and the practical communication of scientific knowledge.
He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Gıda ve Sağlık, a multilingual digital publication devoted to food, nutrition, health, food chemistry, food microbiology, and culinary science. Through this platform, he draws upon his academic background, teaching experience, research activity, and practical knowledge of food production to present scientifically grounded information in a detailed and accessible form for an international readership.