Lactose is a natural milk sugar that can be extracted from milk or whey by a filtration process that separates whey protein from lactose. The lactose is then crystalized and dried to obtain lactose powder composed of a minimum 99.2% lactose and less than 0.3% minerals and protein. Its natural delicate taste and low calories make lactose one of the greatest dairy ingredients for pharmaceutical, nutritional, food or feed applications.
Applications:
- Confectionery / Chocolate manufacturing: Lactose has many peculiar crystallisation properties, as it crystallises better than sucrose. When it is mixed with other sugars, it modifies their crystallisation properties.
- Bakery: Lactose does not hydrolyse easily and is not fermented by beer yeast. Enzymes in this yeast do not destroy lactose molecule. Lactose remains in bakery products after cooking and preserve freshness and humidity. Moreover, lactose helps taking a nice brown colour of caramel.
- Pastry: Lactose has the property to fix food perfume and enhance the aroma of the product.
- Charcuterie / Meat salting industry: easy to use, slightly sweet, cheap, lactose associated with lactic ferments give food a compact texture. Lactose is a preservation agent.
- Sausages: lactose brings dry matter and may ferment.
- Cooked ham: lactose is used as an emulsifier and as a water retention agent. It is defined by technological efficiency (ratio in % of cooked product compared to used fresh meat).
- Reconstituted dairy produce
- Ultra fresh: lactose is used as a standardisation agent and as sweetener for manufacturing ultrafresh products.
- Dietary foodstuffs: lactose has a positive influence for modifying intestinal bacterial flora. In the instestine, lactose helps indeed development of a beneficial intestinal lactic flora (bifidobacteria et lactobacteria) to the detriment of adverse micro-organisms.
- Baby food: used as energy supply (slow sugar). Galactose present in lactose is an essential sugar for children mental development. This lactose undergoes one additional step of refinement to have a higher purity grade.
