Lactose

At some point earlier this year I was entering the Rutgers Engineering building via the loading dock when I noticed the delivery. A whole bunch of big barrels of Lactose. I was rather confused, I couldn't figure out what an engineer needed lactose for. Well recently I was walking through the Chemical Engineering wing of the building when I discovered this.

This isn't very comforting barrels of Lactose right next to barrels labeled Hazardous Waste

What is Pharmaceutical grade lactose? Is it somehow better than the lactose I get in milk?

Next door to the room with the lactose is this room, with devices that look like mixers/churns, which kind of explains the lactose.