Galaxy Rice Cheese Is Lactose-Free

Sometimes I wonder about reporters. Yes, as I say repeatedly, they have to learn a new field every day in order to write articles about it and that's extremely tough to do and get perfect. But when the information is right in front of their eyes, there's no excuse for getting it 100% wrong.

The InsideBayArea.com website reprinted an article by Ellen Kanner of the McClatchy Newspapers on rice-based foods. In it, she said:

Galaxy rice cheese ($3.99, 8 ounces), made with rice flour and rice bran oil, has true cheddar taste but a texture closer to a T-shirt.

If it doesn't have dairy cheese's unctuousness, neither does it have its dietary impact — 70 calories and 4 fat grams vs. 110/9 for dairy cheese. Galaxy rice cheese, it should be noted, is not lactose-free.

How much effort would it have taken to go to the Galaxy website?

Our Rice Brand is an excellent source of calcium without cholesterol, trans fat or lactose. These rice-based products offer delicious cheese flavor in slices, shreds, blocks and more.

Galaxy Rice Brand products have the milk protein casein, which makes them melt and otherwise act like real cow's milk cheese products. That's perfectly safe for those with lactose intolerance. It's those with milk protein allergies who can't have it.

In other words, Kanner mixed up the two main groups of dairy-free consumers and warned off the wrong one. This is a huge mistake.

I know you can't doublecheck everything you read, but a bit of basic research on what newspaper articles say can save you a lot of heartache later on.