Trying for Apple Lossless audio but getting lossy audio

For music downloads from iTunes, I had my Import Settings set to Import Using 'Apple Lossless Encoder' (ALAC), which is a compressed but lossless audio format. On reviewing some of my recent track downloads, I noticed they were in Advanced Audio Coding (ACC) format, which is compressed but lossy. I did not manage to get any explanation from Apple; I was on to their 3rd tier of support by then and missing their phone calls.

I am lucky enough to have a hifi system that is sensitive enough so that poor quality source material, either in recording, production, format or a combination of these, is quite noticeable, so the lossless audio is important.

It's possible I am missing something fundamental here, so I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has noticed this and resolved it with Apple, or has some more information. BTW, deleting and then attempting to re-download a track in a lossless format does not resolve the problem.