Short answer: the two forms are not interchangeable. They differ in EU regulatory status, in the potency unit printed on the Certificate of Analysis, in the analytical method used to obtain that number, and in how the material must be handled. In the EU, only the pasteurised form of a specific strain is authorised as a novel food. Potency in CFU/g and potency in total cells or AFU/g are different measurements and cannot be converted into one another.
1. Identity and regulatory status side by side
| Live A. muciniphila | Pasteurised A. muciniphila | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Live microbial ingredient | Inanimate microorganism (postbiotic category) |
| EU novel food status | Not covered by the pasteurised-form authorisation | Authorised — Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/168, for pasteurised A. muciniphila strain MucT (ATCC BAA-835, CIP 107961) |
| EU conditions of use | — | Food supplements and FSMPs, up to 3.4 × 10¹⁰ cells/day for adults; a 2025 EFSA opinion assessed an extension covering adolescents and up to 4 × 10¹⁰ cells/day in some populations |
| Potency unit | CFU/g | Total cells/g, or AFU/g |
| Enumeration method | Plate count (anaerobic) | Flow cytometry (ISO 19344 | IDF 232) or total-cell count |
| Oxygen handling | Strict anaerobe; oxygen-protected processing and packaging | Not viability-dependent; handling driven by powder stability |
| Cold chain | Typically required | Typically not required |
The single most important line in that table: the EU authorisation is strain-specific and form-specific. It covers the pasteurised form of strain MucT (ATCC BAA-835 / CIP 107961). A different strain, or the live form, is not covered by that authorisation and needs its own route to market.
2. Why the potency number cannot be carried across
This is where most specifications go wrong.
CFU (colony-forming units) measures a cell’s ability to grow into a visible colony. It is the long-standing default for probiotics, and it is a measure of cultivability, not of cell count. Boyte et al. review the available enumeration technologies and report that plate count has always been an estimate rather than a true cell count; that cells can enter a viable-but-not-culturable (VBNC) state in which they lose cultivability while retaining other characteristics of viable cells; and that next-generation probiotics — strict anaerobes with extreme sensitivity to atmospheric oxygen — make accurate culture-based quantification complicated. The same review notes that postbiotics are inanimate microorganisms, for which a cultivability-based count does not apply at all. (Boyte ME, Benkowski A, Pane M, Shehata HR. Front Microbiol. 2023;14:1304621. DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1304621. PMID 38192285)
AFU (active fluorescent units) is obtained by flow cytometry under ISO 19344 | IDF 232, using membrane-integrity staining rather than growth. Because it does not depend on the cell forming a colony, it can be applied to material that is not cultivable. An inter-laboratory cytometric ring test for probiotic quantification has been published, which is the kind of evidence a buyer should ask for when comparing cytometry data between laboratories. (Jordal PL et al. Front Microbiol. 2023;14:1285075. DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1285075. PMID 38029213)
Practical consequence. A pasteurised material cannot carry a meaningful CFU claim, because the cells are inanimate by design. If a supplier offers pasteurised Akkermansia with a CFU/g figure, that is a specification error worth questioning. Conversely, a total-cell or AFU figure on a live material tells you nothing about how much of it is viable at end of shelf life. Ask which unit, by which method, at which time point.
3. What pasteurisation does and does not change
Plovier et al. reported three things that matter to a formulator, independent of any outcome claim:
- A. muciniphila is sensitive to oxygen, and the presence of animal-derived compounds in its conventional growth medium was a limitation for human-use development.
- The work established a synthetic growth medium compatible with human administration — that is, an animal-component-free fermentation route is documented for this organism.
- Amuc_1100, an outer-membrane protein of the organism, is stable at temperatures used for pasteurisation.
(Plovier H et al. Nat Med. 2017;23(1):107-113. DOI 10.1038/nm.4236. PMID 27892954)
That third point is the technical reason the pasteurised form is treated as a distinct ingredient rather than as a degraded version of the live one: a defined protein component survives the heat step. What the study reported about metabolic endpoints in mice is outside the scope of this page and is not claimed here for any material or finished product.
4. Identity: confirm the species, do not assume it
Genus taxonomy has moved. Ndongo et al. applied digital DNA-DNA hybridisation, average nucleotide identity and core-genome phylogeny to 104 whole-genome sequences and reclassified strains into three clusters: cluster I comprising A. muciniphila (type strain ATCC BAA-835ᵀ), cluster II described as the new species A. massiliensis sp. nov., and cluster III proposed as Candidatus A. timonensis. In other words, an isolate labelled A. muciniphila is not necessarily that species. (Ndongo S, Armstrong N, Raoult D, Fournier PE. Sci Rep. 2022;12(1):21747. DOI 10.1038/s41598-022-25873-0. PMID 36526682)
The species itself was described by Derrien et al., who isolated strain MucT on gastric mucin as sole carbon and nitrogen source and proposed Akkermansia muciniphila gen. nov., sp. nov., with MucT (= ATCC BAA-835ᵀ = CIP 107961ᵀ) as type strain. (Derrien M, Vaughan EE, Plugge CM, de Vos WM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2004;54(Pt 5):1469-1476. DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.02873-0. PMID 15388697)
Ask for sequencing-based species confirmation on the Certificate of Analysis, not just a genus-level name.
5. A specification checklist for either form
Before you accept a quotation, get these in writing:
- Strain designation, and whether the deposit is publicly listed or held privately (a private or safe deposit is normal, but you should know which you are getting).
- Form — live, pasteurised, or otherwise inactivated. Stated explicitly, not implied.
- Potency unit and method — CFU/g by plate count, or total cells/AFU per g by flow cytometry under ISO 19344 | IDF 232.
- Time point for that potency figure — at release, or at end of shelf life. These are different numbers.
- Fermentation medium — whether animal-component-free.
- Carrier and cryoprotectant, since these change the per-gram figure.
- Storage and transport conditions, and whether a cold chain is required.
- Destination-market regulatory route — the EU authorisation is strain- and form-specific; the US route for a given strain runs through NDI notification or GRAS, which are likewise strain-specific.
6. Regulatory summary
- EU: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/168 authorises pasteurised A. muciniphila strain MucT (ATCC BAA-835, CIP 107961) as a novel food, for food supplements and foods for special medical purposes, at up to 3.4 × 10¹⁰ cells/day for adults. The EFSA opinion underpinning that authorisation is Turck D et al., EFSA J. 2021;19(9):e06780 (DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6780, PMID 34484452). A 2025 EFSA opinion assessed an extension of use to additional populations including adolescents — Turck D et al., EFSA J. 2025;23(9):e9632 (DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9632, PMID 41018002).
- Other strains and the live form are not covered by that authorisation.
- US: market access for a given strain runs through New Dietary Ingredient notification or GRAS, and is strain-specific.
Buyers are responsible for confirming the status of the exact strain and form they intend to use, for their destination market, before formulation.
7. What we supply
Nutrition BioTech supplies Akkermansia muciniphila as live biomass, pasteurised / heat-inactivated cells, or postbiotic powder, with the format confirmed per order and stated on the specification sheet. Strain designation, potency unit and method are stated on the Certificate of Analysis for every lot. Species identity is confirmed by sequencing.
Full specification: Akkermansia muciniphila product page
The studies cited above are provided as technical context for formulators evaluating raw material. They are not claims about Nutrition BioTech material, and no health, therapeutic or cosmetic outcome is claimed or implied for any finished product. Akkermansia properties are strain-specific and should not be transferred between strains or between live, pasteurised and postbiotic formats. Buyers are responsible for the claims they make on their own labels and for confirming what is permitted in their market.