New sweetener developed from lactose

Press, 15 January 1982, Page 12

New sweetener developed from lactose

NZPA Melbourne .A new process which converts lactose, or milk sugar, into a sweetener has been developed by the Victorian State Agriculture Department.

The State's Minister of Agriculture Mr Thomas Austin. said that the process could result in large savings in the dairy industry.

Lactose could be converted into a syrup which could be used as a sweetener in products such as ice-cream and yoghurt. The process had been developed at the department's Gilbert Chandler Institute of Dairy Technology at Werribce.

The big advantage of the process over others was the simplified engineering and the consequent low capital cost of production equipment.

Mr Austin said that the process could be of particular benefit for small manufacturers.

"Until now. cheese and casein whey has been treated as waste and put down the drain." he said. "Using a special filtering process we can extract the protein, leaving behind the lactose and salt solution. "If we treat that solution further, remove the salt, and heat it under pressure, we then convert the lactose into a glucose-galactose syrup." Mr Austin said that the research at Werribee had shown that the process could produce a sweetener that was cheaper than cane sugar. The sweetener had already been used experimentally in canned fruit, icecream. and brewing.

The conversion process was protected by Australian and New Zealand patents and was now being explained to dairy companies and equipment manufacturers who might be interested in taking out licences to make the syrup.