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Probiotic foods and the perceived health benefits that they offer continue to be of interest to many consumers, including students in undergraduate microbiology courses. Many of these foods bear label claims about ‘live and active’ cultures and their expected quantities, offering tractable systems for students to apply basic culturing techniques to quantify microbes in these products. A laboratory exercise was designed and implemented in which students enumerated bacteria and yeast recovered from probiotic foods purchased from local grocery stores. Label claims on food packages were used to guide enumeration of bacteria and yeast for food items selected by students. Overall, microbial counts in certain brands of kombucha, kimchi, kefir, and yogurt were comparable with label claims, while microbial counts in a probiotic drink and some kombucha were substantially lower than expected, offering an opportunity for students to evaluate limits of detection, and critically assess label claims on popular food items.
