Colorimetric determination of sugars in sweetened condensed milk products

Two means for determining the lactose and sucrose contents of sweetened condensed milk products are examined. The first of these is a simple calculation based on polarimetric measurements and gives reproducible results for lactose which agree well with conventional methods of determination. The second is a novel colorimetric method based on determination of total carbohydrate before and after degradation of lactose with alkali. This gives slightly higher values for lactose in sweetened condensed milk products than conventional methods but could nevertheless be adopted as a means of analytical control, due to its speed, simplicity and cheapness. The advantages and disadvantages of both techniques are compared with those of conventional analytical methods.