If a food or drink is labelled vegan, it may or may not be milk free.
As I covered in previous posts such as this one, accidental cross contamination with milk does not automatically rule out a product carrying a ‘vegan’ label, provided the ingredients are vegan, and the intention was to produce a vegan product.
But what about lactose? Is a vegan-labelled product lactose free?
Lactose is the simple sugar found in all milk, milk-based or milk-containing products, to varying degrees.
If milk traces can potentially be found in vegan foods, it stands to reason that lactose traces can be found in those same foods too. There are also traces of lactose in egg.
However, milk (protein) traces in vegan foods are a potential health risk to those with milk allergy. Lactose (milk sugar) traces are unlikely to be a risk to people with lactose intolerance, whose symptoms are non life-threatening anyway, and for whom the low quantities associated with accidental cross-contamination are usually tolerable.
Do ‘traces of lactose’ count as ‘lactose free’?
Given that traces of gluten up to 0.002% (ie 20 parts per million, or ppm) count as gluten free, it’s not an unreasonable question to pose.
Detection limits for lactose are extremely low, therefore tests are very sensitive, and lactose can be detected in minute levels. If you can detect it, from a legal perspective, then technically it’s not ‘free’, because ‘lactose free’ does not have a fixed redefined upper threshold level, as ‘gluten free’ now has.
However, despite the lack of regulation in the UK / Europe, some industry good-practice standards have established themselves, with some European countries using 0.01% (100 ppm) as a maximum threshold, and others being more lenient at 0.1% (1000 ppm).
(NB. Infant formula is an exception, with a legal limit for lactose set at no more than 10 mg of lactose per 100 calories.)
Galactosaemia
A word about this inherited metabolic disorder, which is an extremely serious condition.
Lactose is a disaccharide sugar, made up of two monosaccharide components — galactose and glucose. Galactosaemia is the inability to process the galactose component, due to the lack of the enzyme necessary to metabolise it in the body — usually, galactosaemia-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT).
Failure to digest galactose causes a build up of toxins in the system, leading to organ failure, cataracts, jaundice and other issues over time, and is usually picked up in infancy, when symptoms of diarrhoea, jaundice and feeding problems are observed.
A strict low-lactose diet is the key treatment …. but it is not quite that straightforward ….
If it’s lactose free, is it galactose free?
Not necessarily!
As the Galactosaemia Support Group in the UK point out, the many reduced lactose consumer products on the market, including yoghurts, milks and cheeses by brands such as Arla and many supermarket own brands, are not safe for those with the condition. These are produced using the enzyme lactase, but unsafe levels of galactose usually remain.
The good news for those with galactosaemia is that some cheeses are permitted on the diet, especially matured products, as the aging process or the bacteria used reduce lactose / galactose levels sufficiently in the products.
A ‘vegan’ label is insufficient to confirm safety for galactosaemia, because some vegan foods (such as fermented soy products) contain some galactose naturally, although in moderation may be fine. However, for the most part, vegan labelled or certified food should be OK, as any cross-contamination ought to be very low. However, always follow your dietitian’s advice.
Bear in mind that lactose is also added to some beers, although it should be clearly labelled.
