# Acidified sour cream — What a food must legally contain to use its name: FDA standards of identity, in one table

For Acidified sour cream, cfr section is 21 CFR 131.162; category (cfr part) is Milk and Cream; composition requirements is Acidified sour cream contains not less than 18 percent milkfat; except that when the food is characterized by the addition of nutritive sweeteners or bulky flavoring ingredients, the weight of milkfat is not less than 18 percent of the remainder obtained by subtracting the weight of such optional ingredients from the weight of the food; but in no case does the food contain less than 14.4 percent milkfat. Acidified sour cream has a titratable acidity of not less than 0.5 percent, calculated as lactic acid; what separates it from neighbours is Acidified sour cream results from the souring of pasteurized cream with safe and suitable acidifiers, with or without addition of lactic acid producing bacteria, recorded from its source on 2026-08-11.

- **CFR section:** 21 CFR 131.162 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Standardized food:** Acidified sour cream _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Category (CFR part):** Milk and Cream _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Composition requirements:** Acidified sour cream contains not less than 18 percent milkfat; except that when the food is characterized by the addition of nutritive sweeteners or bulky flavoring ingredients, the weight of milkfat is not less than 18 percent of the remainder obtained by subtracting the weight of such optional ingredients from the weight of the food; but in no case does the food contain less than 14.4 percent milkfat. Acidified sour cream has a titratable acidity of not less than 0.5 percent, calculated as lactic acid. _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **What separates it from neighbours:** Acidified sour cream results from the souring of pasteurized cream with safe and suitable acidifiers, with or without addition of lactic acid producing bacteria. _(verified: appears in the quote below)_

## What the source says

> § 131.162 Acidified sour cream. ( a ) Description. Acidified sour cream results from the souring of pasteurized cream with safe and suitable acidifiers, with or without addition of lactic acid producing bacteria. Acidified sour cream contains not less than 18 percent milkfat; except that when the food is characterized by the addition of nutritive sweeteners or bulky flavoring ingredients, the weight of milkfat is not less than 18 percent of the remainder obtained by subtracting the weight of such optional ingredients from the weight of the food; but in no case does the food contain less than 14.4 percent milkfat. Acidified sour cream has a titratable acidity of not less than 0.5 percent, calculated as lactic acid.

## Source

- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-131

Last verified: 2026-08-11. Review by: 2027-08-11.
Part of [What a food must legally contain to use its name: FDA standards of identity, in one table](https://referencesource.org/food-standards-of-identity/).