Frequently Asked Questions

Lactose is a “double-sugar” that requires the digestive enzyme lactase to split it apart into its component parts, glucose and galactose, so that it can be absorbed in our intestines. People with lactose intolerance do not produce enough lactase enzyme to absorb lactose. So, we add lactase enzyme to our organic milk and cream before carefully culturing it into our yogurt, kefir, sour cream and cream cheese. The lactase enzyme we use is naturally occurring and derived from vegetarian yeast cultures. By adding it to the milk and cream, the lactase splits apart lactose into its component sugars and renders it digestible to everybody. That’s it!

Our lactose-free dairy products are sold nationwide in natural, specialty and conventional food stores. Please use our store locator to find a store near you. If you can’t find a store in your area that carries our products, we encourage you to let us know about it by sending an email to info@greenvalleylactosefree.com so we can follow up with them.

In addition, you can talk directly with the dairy buyer at the store and put in a request, using our request form. If a store is not able to place the products on their shelves, it is oftentimes possible to special order a whole case and receive a case discount from the retailer.

We understand how discouraging and inconvenient it can be when our products are hard to find.

As our company continues to grow, our sales team is working diligently to expand the availability of our lactose free products nationwide. However, we recognize there are still areas we have not yet been able to reach and are committed to filling in the gaps. We appreciate your continued support and understanding throughout this process.

The good news is, you can help! Customers like you play a vital role in helping us reach more communities. When you request our products at your local stores, your voice carries significant influence—more than it may sometimes seem—and retailers do take customer feedback into consideration when deciding what to stock in their stores.

We receive requests and suggestions frequently from our customers for all kinds of lactose-free products, including whipped cream, ice cream, and everything in between. Every time we receive a suggestion, we pass it on to our Research & Development team. We are currently looking into different suggestions as we make plans to expand our overall product line. We appreciate your recommendations, so please keep them coming!

Removing lactose from milk by the addition of lactase enzyme does not alter the amount of protein and calcium. Lactose-free dairy foods have the same number of calories, protein, fat and carbohydrate content compared to their lactose-containing counterparts.

There is a misconception that lactose-free dairy is higher in sugar compared to conventional dairy because many people have noted that lactose-free milk has a sweeter taste. However, this relative sweetness results from how our taste receptors experience the sweetness of various types of sugar, not from an actual difference in the amount of naturally-occurring sugar present.

Specifically, intact lactose is perceived as less sweet than its free component sugars, glucose and galactose, after they’ve been broken apart. Nonetheless, the total amount of naturally occurring sugar is exactly the same whether it exists as intact lactose or enzymatically broken-down lactose.

Most of our products are Kosher-Certified for year round use (Look for the certification on the package), exclusive of Passover, by the Orthodox Rabbinic Certifiers of San Francisco. We are not Chalav Yisroel certified because it requires that a rabbi be present to supervise the milking and transportation of the milk to the creamery, something that is not financially and logistically feasible for us at this time.

Our dairy products do not contain gluten. Yogurt, kefir, sour cream, cheese, and cream cheese are naturally gluten free. At Green Valley Lactose-Free, we do not produce products that contain gluten.

None of the products in our Green Valley Lactose Free line contain nuts. Our yogurt, kefir, cream cheese and sour cream are produced at our plant in Sebastopol, California, where we produce almond and cashew-based products for another company.

We take allergen controls very seriously at our creamery. We always follow good manufacturing practices to ensure there is no cross contamination between products. All equipment is thoroughly cleaned between production runs of dairy (milk) and nut-milk products. Additional testing is also done to verify the effectiveness of the cleaning.

Kefir and yogurt are the result of milk fermented with live and active cultures that contain potent probiotics. We use a blend of eleven live and active cultures, selected for their unique and complementary role for flavor development and synergy, including Bifidobacterium lactis, S. thermophilus, L. casei, L. rhamnosus, L. acidophilus, L. delbrueckii subsp. lactis, L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris.

We tested our products for probiotic counts. On average, our yogurt and kefir contain 11 different probiotics and hundreds of billions of probiotics per serving.

Kefir is drinkable cultured milk, like a thick smoothie. Often referred to as “drinkable yogurt”, many people enjoy kefir for its health benefits and flavor: it is an easily digestible source of natural protein, calcium, and beneficial probiotics. Its creamy texture makes it a versatile base for breakfast smoothies, on-the-go meals, or even as a substitute for buttermilk in baking. Our kefir is lactose free, which makes it ideal for people looking for the nutritional benefits of kefir regardless of if they are lactose intolerant or not.

The main difference between yogurt and kefir is in its flavor and texture: yogurt has a thicker texture, like a delicate custard, while kefir’s thinner consistency makes it drinkable. Our kefir and yogurt also differ in flavor and in their milk components – milk solids for example – and other ingredients. Our yogurt is slightly higher in milk solids and we add a little bit of pectin, which is derived from citrus fruits.

We make both lowfat and whole milk kefir, including plain and fruit-flavored varieties.

We do not recommend freezing our lactose-free yogurt, kefir, sour cream and cream cheese. However, our lactose-free butter and cheese can be frozen for later use.

Yes, we use #2 and #5 food-grade plastics for our containers and lids. Neither of these contains chloride that releases dioxins when heated, and are BPA, phthalate and PVC free. Our foil lids have a protective plastic lining that prevents contact between the yogurt and the foil.

To locate your local facility that offers #5 plastic recycling, visit www.earth911.org. This site will direct you to recycling centers for all types of packaging in your region. Simply enter your zip code and the type of material you want to recycle. Also, other customers have let us know that they donate their saved cups to local schools for art projects!

There is a printed “best by” date on every yogurt, kefir, sour cream, cheese, and cream cheese. We recommend all of our products be consumed on or before the “best by” date to ensure quality and freshness.

We work continuously to improve our products and provide our customers with the best products we can make. We love the taste of our organic fruit yogurts, and we wanted to create a smoother, creamier texture and overall better product experience. Blending the fruit into our yogurt enabled us to deliver that experience. Aside from blending the fruit into the yogurt, nothing else has changed.

Green Valley’s products do contain casein, as casein is a natural protein that is present in cow milk.

Green Valley Lactose-Free Kefir does not contain alcohol. Alcohol is created through the fermentation of yeast. Traditionally, kefir was made with kefir grains, a blend of yeasts and cultures, which would result in a beverage with low alcohol levels. To this day, in some areas in Europe, this is a common practice. Since we do not want alcohol in our Kefir, we use a blend of cultures that only contain live active cultures. Our kefir is therefore free of alcohol.

Our yogurts contain a small amounts of pectin (less than 0.5%) to thicken the yogurt and create the delicate texture. Our pectin is citrus-based, derived from lemon and lime peels. Our kefirs do not contain pectin.

We are not able to export or ship to Canada, due to their strict quotas on dairy products.