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Terms of Service

Last updated: 27 May 2026

1. Who we are

Fermenta is operated by Merlijns Solutions, an eenmanszaak registered in the Netherlands with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce under KVK number 99525992 and VAT ID NL005394819B52. In these Terms, “Fermenta”, “we”, “us”, and “our” mean Merlijns Solutions. Questions about these Terms can be sent to hello@getfermenta.com.

2. Accepting these Terms

These Terms apply when you access or use the Fermenta website, mobile app, account features, paid subscription features, content, emails, and related services. By creating an account, starting a trial or subscription, or using Fermenta, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use Fermenta.

3. What Fermenta is

Fermenta is a mobile app for tracking fermentation projects, following recipes, receiving reminders, learning about fermentation, and receiving general food-safety warnings. It is available through the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Fermenta is designed for personal, home, educational, and informal use. It is not designed to replace professional food-safety systems, regulatory compliance processes, laboratory testing, medical advice, nutritional advice, or commercial food production controls.

4. Eligibility

Fermenta is not intended for children under 16. If you are under 16, you may use Fermenta only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian. If you are under the age of legal majority where you live, your parent or legal guardian must accept these Terms on your behalf and is responsible for your use of Fermenta.

5. Your account

  • You may create an account using email/password, Google sign-in, or Apple sign-in.
  • You are responsible for keeping your login details secure and for all activity under your account.
  • You must provide accurate account information and keep it up to date.
  • You may not share, sell, transfer, or give access to your account to another person.
  • You can delete your account from the app settings. Account deletion is permanent and deletes your Fermenta profile and fermentation data from our active database.

Deleting your Fermenta account or deleting the app does not cancel an active App Store or Google Play subscription. You must cancel subscriptions through the relevant app-store account settings.

6. Subscriptions, trials, and billing

  • Fermenta Premium is offered as an auto-renewing subscription, currently with monthly, quarterly, and yearly options.
  • Fermenta currently offers a 14-day free trial, unless a different offer is displayed at purchase.
  • The subscription price, billing period, trial period, renewal terms, taxes, and any region-specific terms are shown before purchase in the App Store or Google Play purchase flow.
  • Unless you cancel before the end of the trial or billing period, your subscription will automatically renew and the app store may charge your selected payment method.
  • Payments are processed by Apple App Store or Google Play. We do not process payment card data directly.
  • Subscription features may change over time, but we will not intentionally remove the core paid functionality of an active subscription without reasonable notice unless required for legal, safety, security, or app-store reasons.

7. Cancellation and refunds

  • You can cancel your subscription through your Apple App Store or Google Play account settings.
  • Cancellation usually takes effect at the end of the current paid billing period. You may continue to have access to paid features until that period ends, unless the app store or applicable law says otherwise.
  • Refund requests are handled by Apple or Google under their own policies and applicable law. Because app-store payments are processed by Apple or Google, Fermenta usually cannot issue refunds directly.
  • Nothing in these Terms limits any refund, cancellation, withdrawal, or consumer rights you may have under mandatory law.

8. App-store terms

Your download and use of the Fermenta app may also be governed by the terms of the Apple App Store or Google Play. For apps downloaded from the Apple App Store, Apple's standard End User License Agreement applies to the app license unless a custom license agreement is provided through App Store Connect. These Terms also govern your Fermenta account, content, subscriptions, website use, and related services.

9. Your content

The fermentation logs, notes, batch records, measurements, and other information you create in Fermenta remain yours. You grant Fermenta a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, process, transmit, display, analyze, and use your content as needed to provide, maintain, secure, support, and improve Fermenta.

This license is limited to operating and improving Fermenta. We do not sell your fermentation logs or notes. Because Fermenta does not currently offer public sharing features, your content is not published publicly by Fermenta.

You are responsible for the content you enter into Fermenta. Do not enter content that is illegal, infringing, harmful, misleading, or that you do not have the right to use.

10. Fermenta content and intellectual property

Fermenta and its app, website, design, software, text, educational materials, images, icons, illustrations, brand assets, database structure, recipe presentation, and curated content are owned by Merlijns Solutions or its licensors and are protected by intellectual property and related rights.

You may use Fermenta recipes and guidance for your own personal fermentation projects. You may not copy, reproduce, publish, resell, scrape, bulk download, train models on, create a competing database from, or commercially exploit Fermenta content without our written permission. This does not restrict rights you cannot legally waive, such as mandatory consumer rights or uses permitted by applicable copyright law.

11. Acceptable use

You agree that you will not:

  • use Fermenta for unlawful, harmful, or deceptive purposes;
  • use Fermenta as a substitute for professional food-safety, medical, nutritional, regulatory, or commercial production advice;
  • use Fermenta to certify, approve, sell, or commercially release food or drink as safe;
  • copy, scrape, harvest, crawl, index, or bulk extract Fermenta content or data;
  • reverse engineer, decompile, modify, or attempt to access source code except where applicable law expressly allows it;
  • bypass subscriptions, access controls, security measures, or app-store payment rules;
  • interfere with, overload, disrupt, or compromise Fermenta or its infrastructure;
  • upload or enter viruses, malware, unlawful content, or content that infringes another person's rights;
  • share or transfer your account to someone else; or
  • use Fermenta in a way that violates these Terms, app-store rules, or applicable law.

12. Food-safety disclaimer and assumption of risk

Fermentation involves real food-safety risks. Incorrect ingredients, salt levels, pH, temperature, timing, hygiene, equipment, storage, or handling can lead to spoilage, harmful microorganisms, foodborne illness, allergic reactions, injury, or worse. Some hazards may not be visible, smellable, or tasteable.

Fermenta provides general educational information, tracking, reminders, and warnings. Fermenta does not test your food or drink, does not verify your measurements, does not inspect your equipment, and cannot guarantee that a ferment is safe to eat or drink. Any “safe to eat”, warning, timing, pH, temperature, salt, smell, appearance, mold, yeast, or spoilage guidance is informational only and may be incomplete, inaccurate, outdated, or unsuitable for your circumstances.

You are solely responsible for deciding whether to prepare, continue, store, serve, sell, consume, or discard any food or drink. Always follow trusted official food-safety guidance, maintain clean equipment, use appropriate ingredients and measurements, understand the risks of the recipe you are making, and discard anything if you are unsure. If in doubt, throw it out.

People who are pregnant, elderly, very young, immunocompromised, or otherwise at higher risk of foodborne illness should take extra care and seek advice from qualified professionals or official food-safety authorities before consuming fermented foods or drinks. If you suspect foodborne illness or a medical emergency, seek medical help immediately.

Fermenta may include recipes or guidance for kombucha, tepache, dairy ferments, and other foods or drinks that may carry additional risks or may contain alcohol. You are responsible for complying with all local laws, age restrictions, food-safety rules, alcohol rules, labeling requirements, and other regulations that apply to you.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you assume all risks connected with foods and drinks you prepare, store, serve, consume, or discard using information from Fermenta.

13. No professional advice

Fermenta is not medical, nutritional, dietetic, veterinary, laboratory, professional food-safety, legal, regulatory, commercial production, or HACCP advice. You should not rely on Fermenta for decisions that require professional expertise, regulatory approval, laboratory testing, or emergency action.

14. Changes to Fermenta

We may update, add, remove, suspend, or discontinue features at any time. We may also correct recipes, warnings, guidance, or content. We will try to give reasonable notice of material changes that substantially affect paid subscribers, unless the change is needed for legal, safety, security, operational, or app-store reasons.

15. Suspension and termination

You may stop using Fermenta at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access to Fermenta if we reasonably believe that you violated these Terms, created risk for Fermenta or others, abused the service, attempted to bypass payment or security systems, committed fraud, or used Fermenta unlawfully. Where reasonable, we will give notice, but we may act immediately if needed to protect users, Fermenta, app-store compliance, or legal rights.

16. Disclaimers

Fermenta is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties and guarantees, whether express, implied, or statutory, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose, availability, non-infringement, and that Fermenta will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that any food or drink made with Fermenta will be safe.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty exclusions, so some of the above may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms limits mandatory rights you have under consumer law.

17. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Fermenta and Merlijns Solutions are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages, lost profits, lost data, loss of goodwill, business interruption, or damages arising from food or drink you prepare, store, serve, sell, consume, or discard based on Fermenta.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for all claims relating to Fermenta is limited to the amount you paid for Fermenta in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or EUR 50, whichever is higher.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot legally be excluded or limited, including liability for intent, deliberate recklessness, gross negligence where it cannot be excluded, death or personal injury where exclusion is not allowed, fraud, or mandatory consumer rights.

18. Responsibility for misuse

If you use Fermenta for business, professional, commercial, or unlawful purposes, or if you violate these Terms, you are responsible for losses, claims, damages, and costs that arise from that use or violation to the extent permitted by law.

19. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect personal data. By using Fermenta, you acknowledge that we process personal data as described in the Privacy Policy.

20. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the “Last updated” date above. If changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify you, such as through the app, website, or email. Continued use of Fermenta after updated Terms take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

21. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Netherlands, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Subject to mandatory consumer protection law, disputes relating to these Terms or Fermenta will be submitted to the competent courts of the Netherlands.

If you are a consumer in the EU, EEA, UK, or another country with mandatory consumer protection rules, this choice of law and forum does not deprive you of protections or rights that cannot be waived under the laws of your country of residence.

Before starting formal proceedings, please contact us at hello@getfermenta.com so we can try to resolve the issue informally.

22. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to hello@getfermenta.com.