Colony Forming Unit (CFU)

White Mountain Foods | October 21st, 2016

Q: What does CFU mean?

A: The probiotic unit of measure, called a CFU or Colony Forming Unit, denotes active bacteria as opposed to inactive or dead bacteria. A single bacterium can divide and form a “colony” of many bacteria. A commercial lab will analyze samples and report a certain number of CFUs (reproductive beneficial bacteria) per gram of product. Every container of yogurt is not going to have the same amount of CFUs per serving. Product age, seasonal ambient temperature, human controlled process variations, varying lactose content of the milk, shipping conditions, etc., can all affect the actual CFU content of a given sample of yogurt. The most recent yogurt independent lab analysis of White Mountain Foods yogurt reported 400 million CFUs per gram of yogurt. That’s up to 90 billion per one cup serving, making our yogurt one of the most probiotic-dense foods on the market!