How are the bacteria in your starters grown? Do they contain dairy?

A small amount of dairy is used in the production of the cultures in our starters. However, as the probiotic bacteria feed on dairy, any trace amounts of lactose (milk sugar) and/or casein (milk protein) that are contained in the starters will be consumed by the probiotics during the fermentation process when you make your kefir or cultured vegetables. In Veratox testing, coconut water that has been fermented using our Kefir Starter has been confirmed to contain less than 19 ppm of milk protein (casein), while vegetables fermented using our Culture Starter have been confirmed to contain less than 6 ppm. These theoretical numbers may be even lesser as the bacteria uses some of this protein during fermentation. Additional batches of coconut water kefir made using transferred kefir rather than a new starter packet contain even smaller amounts of milk protein.