We currently offer four core food microbiome testing services. Tap into our wealth of food microbial ecology knowledge and tools to solve your microbial identification needs! See below for details on how to select the best service.
1. Targeted microbial isolation/identification (spoilage & defects)
Do you have unwanted pigments on your cheese rinds? Or weird molds on your salami? Is your kimchi slimy? We can help! With our targeted microbial isolation service, we can help identify specific microbes associated with spoilage or defects in fermented foods.
What foods to test: Our targeted microbial identification service can work on almost any food where you are having obvious microbial defect, spoilage, or other issues.
What to send: Please see our sample preparation and shipment page for details.
How our testing works: We will attempt to isolate potential microbes causing aesthetic or flavor defects in fermented food products. We will provide you with a microbial ID based on DNA-sequencing of isolated microbes. You should receive an identification within two weeks of your sample arriving at our lab.
Cost: $225 per sample
2. Sourdough starter microbiome profile
Want to know what yeasts and bacteria make your sourdough so delicious? Based on our extensive experience conducting research on the microbial ecology of sourdough starters, we can help unlock the microbial diversity of your sourdough starter.
What foods to test: This service is only intended for sourdough starters. Please see options below for other fermented foods.
What to send: Please see our sample preparation and shipment page for details.
How our testing works: We will isolate the dominant yeast, lactic acid bacteria, and acetic acid bacteria in your sourdough starter. We will provide you with a microbial ID based on DNA-sequencing of isolated microbes. Within two weeks of receiving your sample at our lab, you will receive a report providing photos of your microbes, their identities, and basic information about what is known about their roles in sourdough production.
Cost: $250 per sample
3. Fermented food microbiome profile (culture)
Are you working with a complex community of microbes in fermented vegetables, kombucha, cheese, salami or other fermented food? Want to understand how this community changes from one batch of food to another? Or are you developing a product where you want to see if the starter cultures you are adding are developing a proper community? Our fermented food microbiome profile builds on over a decade of our research to isolate and identify the dominant molds, yeasts, and bacteria in your ferment.
What foods to test: This service works on any fermented food. For sourdough starter profiling, see our Sourdough Starter Microbiome Profile above.
What to send: Please see our sample preparation and shipment page for details.
How our testing works: We will isolate the dominant bacteria and fungi in your ferment. Specific isolation approaches will depend on your particular food. Within two weeks of receiving your sample at our lab, you will receive a report providing photos of your microbes, their identities, and basic information about what is know about their roles in fermentation.
Cost: $325 per sample
4. Fermented food microbiome profile (metagenomic)
Our fermented food microbiome profile above using culturing can work well for many fermented foods. But some ferments may have many microbes (high complexity) or microbes that are difficult to grow in the lab. For these cases, we can offer a metagenomic profile where we extract DNA from your sample and directly identify the microbes present using their DNA sequences.
What foods to test: This service works on any fermented food. For sourdough starter profiling, see our Sourdough Starter Microbiome Profile above.
What to send: Please see our sample preparation and shipment page for details.
How our testing works: We will extract DNA from your fermented food and then use shotgun metagenomic sequencing to sequence the DNA of all microbes present. We will then use databases to identify the microbes that are present. One important caveat – unlikes options 1 to 3 above, this approach does not indicate whether the microbes detected in your sample were alive or not.
Cost: $400 per sample