Can the lactose content of cheese types vary?
Cheese is a biological medium, and the lactose content of cow’s milk is subject to seasonal variation. However, in some low lactose cheeses, at day one following cheese manufacture, most of the lactose should be removed in the whey. For example, in well drained cheese such as Swiss types, lactose is completely used up in a few hours by the propionic bacteria. Lactose analysis of cheese Since 2001, the UK Galactosaemia Support Group has commissioned the analysis of 119 samples of 13 cheese types, in nine batches. They defined a low lactose cheese as a cheese containing undetectable quantities of lactose (< 10mg/100g lactose). For galactosaemia, it also has to be galactose free. The cheese samples analysed were purchased from retail outlets at different times throughout the year to try to detect any seasonable variability. The low lactose cheeses have been reanalysed over the years to check the consistency of the results obtained. The analysis was performed by two different laboratories
