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<p>Sixty-three interviews, a mix of telephone and face to face, were conducted in total, half of these (32) were with consumers with the remainder split between health professionals (15) and food businesses (16).</p>
<p>Background: There are currently no EU-wide rules on the use of claims to indicate the absence or reduction of lactose in foods. Therefore manufacturers across Europe can set their own management thresholds for labelling foods suitable for people with lactose intolerance and galactosaemia.</p>
<p>This means that the level of protection offered to consumers with these conditions varies between and within EU countries. For this reason the EU has requested that European Food Safety Authority issue an opinion on lactose intolerance and galactosaemia in order to inform the development of EU-wide legislation on the labelling of foods suitable for people with lactose intolerance and galactosaemia This research was conducted to explore the terms ‘lactose free’, ‘milk free’ and ‘dairy free’ among consumers, health professionals and food businesses.</p>