Lactose intolerance is caused by reduced or absent activity of lactase that prevents the splitting of lactose. People deficient in lactase should eliminate diet milk and milk products due to the gastrointestinal symptoms caused by the individual inability to hydrolise the lactose. Therefore, the aim of this work is to develop celulosic film incorporated with lactase to reduce the lactose level in milk. The films were cast immersed in 100 mL pasteurized milk and kept at 25 °C/25 hours or at 7 °C/48 hours. The films incorporated with 1 and 1.5 mL of lactase enzyme reduced respectively, 78 and 85% of lactase after 24 hours/7 °C and 92% and 100% after 25 hours/25 °C. These films presented stability when stored at room and refrigerated temperatures. Migrations test showed, on average, 21.94% of the incorporated enzyme migrated to aqueous solution after 14 days. Therefore, the developed films showed a potential use as an internal layer of milk multilayer carton packaging.
lactose-free milk; lactase; active packaging; films
