Lactose-free chocolate

Related tags Lactose intolerance Milk

Barry Callebaut developed a skimmed milk powder low in lactose

Zurich-based chocolate firm Barry Callebaut has launched a lactose-free milk chocolate. The new product is made with a skimmed milk powder with "the lowest lactose content available on the market". This enables the firm to put higher amounts of milk powder in its recipe, which gives the product a similar taste to regular milk chocolate.

To make the new product, special production processes were implemented including additional cleaning of the production lines to eliminate any lactose contamination during the production process.

Lactose accounts for about 5% of whole milk and is found in most fresh dairy products. Up to 70% of adults worldwide are affected by lactose intolerance, according to figures from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in its 2010 study: 'Scientific Opinion on lactose thresholds in lactose intolerance and galactosaemia'.

Lactose-intolerant people do not have a sufficient amount of the lactase enzyme, which normally splits lactose into two moieties: glucose and galactose before absorption.

According to the EFSA study, the most important markets for lactose-free food products are Germany, Austria, the UK and the Scandinavian markets (mainly Finland), despite the fact that less than 20% of the population in these countries is lactose intolerant.

The frequency of lactose intolerance is much higher in southern European countries, Africa and Asia, which offers further market potential.