Questions & Answers
from "On Ice Cream" featured in Dairy Foods magazine
and sourced from "On Ice Cream" technical short courses.

Lactose Reduction:

Question: What are the key considerations affecting formulation of lactose reduced or lactose free frozen dairy desserts?

Answer: Define your objective either to eliminate lactose crystallization (i.e., "sandiness") or develop true lactose free products. In the former case, the occurrence of the "sandy" defect can be eliminated or reduced by managing lactose content through mix composition. In the latter case, however, it is first necessary to identify a market need. This is still controversial even in markets where incidence of lactose intolerance is supposed to be greatest. Given such a market, several approaches can be taken. One is to simply create products that are truly "non-dairy". These are frozen desserts based on non-dairy proteins (inherently lactose free) and fats. A second approach is to use dairy ingredients such as milk protein concentrates and isolates that have their lactose content reduced by ultrafiltration or similar processes. Note that not all (or enough) lactose may be removed during these processes. Finally, the hydrolysis of lactose by lactase enzyme might have value. Under proper conditions, 99+% of the lactose can be hydrolyzed. In these latter two instances, care is necessary to develop mix formulas to match your objectives for firmness, freezing performance, and sweetness. In either case, increased levels of "lactose modified" milk-solids-not-fat can lead to some truly novel new product concepts.