The main objective of this work was to study the applicability of the method of Acton to estimate the lactose concentration in Minas Frescal cheese. Recovery experiments were carried out, with recoveries for lactose ranging from 99.1% to 103.7%., for samples containing up to 40<FONT FACE="Symbol">m</font>g lactose/ml. Cheese samples were purchased randomly in Piracicaba, SP, Brasil with two days of shelf life, from three batches, with three samples per batch. Lactose was determined in the same day and its concentration varied from 2.36% to 2.47% for batch 1; 2.58% to 3.03% for batch 2; and from 2.19% to 2.48% for batch 3. A high uniformity was observed among batches, with little variation among samples. All values were within the range tipically found for this kind of cheese.
cheese; lactose; carbohydrates; dairy products