Dairy free?? does that = egg free?

[jaidymama]

Ok, so we're new to this whole allergy eating thing, so I'm going to have to do a lot of looking at labels. I have a good handle on the gluten vs. wheat free thing... but I wondered if Dairy free means egg free as well? I know that eggs are somehow considered dairy in some food groups...

[jocelyndale]

For the most part, mammals do not lay eggs (well, monotremes do, but . . . . ). The mammals we milk certainly don't lay eggs. We eat eggs from poultry/fowl, which are a completely different food family no matter how you look at it. Goats and cows and sheep are in no way related to chickens and geese.

Eggs are only considered dairy in supermarkets which label the entire milk/cheese/butter/egg case "DAIRY".

If you have an egg allergy, dairy won't necessarily cause you any sort of problem. If you need to avoid dairy, you don't necessarily need to avoid eggs.

[wendy1221]

No. Most gluten-free products are also dairy-free, but we can't eat them b/c the baby and I are both allergic to eggs.

[kathirynne]

Ita

Originally Posted by jocelyndale

...If you need to avoid dairy, you don't necessarily need to avoid eggs.

:

[jaidymama]

Sorry I didn't explain myself... I guess I should have said that we need to avoid gluten, dairy and eggs So I'm looking at all this stuff that says gluten free and dairy free... and then left wondering if there are eggs hiding in it. So I was stretching to compare it to the supermarket label... and isn't it in the governments food pyramid that way?? let me check? Ok, well I am crazy I guess I was remembering the picture of the eggs along with the cheese wedge on the posters that used to hang in schools.

JocelynDale ---thanks for setting me straight

SO can I ask a follow up question, I think that's called a redirect??

What, if any, are eggs hidden in foods as? Or are they always labeled as eggs??

[wendy1221]

New FDA law says any of the top 8 have to be clearly listed on labels. SO there won't be any hidden eggs if you live in the US.

[nikirj]

Originally Posted by wendy1221

New FDA law says any of the top 8 have to be clearly listed on labels. SO there won't be any hidden eggs if you live in the US.

Yeah, but not everybody does that yet. Sure they will be represented in some form on the label, but not in a clear "EGG" form...they can be masquerading as, well, anything with "ovo" in the word and a few things without it at all. So you STILL have to watch out. And nah, on the label, it can say "dairy free" and be, well, 100% egg.

Generally speaking, though, if it has a "CONTAINS: soy" (or whatever it contains) and/or a "MAY CONTAIN:" warning, and neither of these list the things you're looking for, you'll be good.

The simplest list I found is here: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/mis...gy_cutout.html which is also the site I started at looking for dairy information for my son. Here's another page on that site: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/nut...ergy_diet.html

I don't know how aware you are of this...but some vaccines contain egg.

When available, we will often go for a "vegan" product because we can be quite sure that these don't contain milk (or in your case, eggs OR milk). So a vegan, gluten-free product would be your safest bet, if you find yourself in a place where you're looking at one on the shelf

[Panserbjorne]

If we buy anything premade (which we generally don't) we go for enjoy life products that are clearly labelled gluten, dairy, soy and egg free. It's a great company.

Anything can hide anywhere and cross contamination is a definite concern. Like a pp said there is a vaccine that is incubated in eggs. We have a medical exemption for that reason.

Gluten free and vegan will definitely help you. Good luck!

[wendy1221]

Originally Posted by nikirj

Yeah, but not everybody does that yet. Sure they will be represented in some form on the label, but not in a clear "EGG" form...they can be masquerading as, well, anything with "ovo" in the word and a few things without it at all.

No, the law passed a long long time ago and everyone was required to comply by January 1st of this year. So if any label does not clearly state that they contain egg, they are breaking the law. The only loophole is if something has a longer shelflife and was made before the law went into effect. If you shop at a regular grocery store, I would hope things cycled fast enough that there wasn't something that old, but I guess you never know.

[Mrs.PhD]

I has gotten easier since Jan (DD allergic to eggs and Milk) but it always takes me 3 or 4 passes reading the label to be sure it is safe. I know a few times I would buy stuff and get home and read it again and find we couldn't eat it.

nikirj, that is a great post and I am just going to say, what she said.

[jaidymama]

Thanks for all this information. I think we will be eating healthier around here because of this... more homemade foods and not as many premade stuff... which is ok, we'll just use leftovers for lunch... we typically liked doing quick food for lunch.

Anyways, I'll have to keep an eye out for the ovo- thing on labels. I had also been told to look for vegan things... so hopefully that would be helpful too. Although some soy cheese even has dairy in it... but I wonder if that would still be considered vegan then?

[Panserbjorne]

No it's not.

[Mrs.PhD]

Originally Posted by jaidymama

Thanks for all this information. I think we will be eating healthier around here because of this... more homemade foods and not as many premade stuff... which is ok, we'll just use leftovers for lunch... we typically liked doing quick food for lunch.

Anyways, I'll have to keep an eye out for the ovo- thing on labels. I had also been told to look for vegan things... so hopefully that would be helpful too. Although some soy cheese even has dairy in it... but I wonder if that would still be considered vegan then?

I was going to warn you about that, but I thought I was going a bit over board and I seemed to be the only one take by surprise when my DD got a rash from soy cheese and I read later casein is in it. Unless it says vegan, it most likely has casein it it. It seems like most soy cheese does (all the ones trader Joes carries has it in it.) I guess it helps it melt some. Even the roast chicken at cost co has casein in it. Now why would you mess up a chicken by doing that?????????

It does seem like many people who are allergic to milk are also allergic to eggs (for DD it is the white only, yoke is ok, but too hard to separate safely.)

Even though I don't really think eggs and milk are that bad for you, I found cooking for DD's allergies is Much healthier then before because we cook more for ourselves and simpler foods. Did I mention that 20 pounds fell off me over a year? (I had about 25 to loose so it worked out well.) Also leaving off cheese really does cut a lot of calories.

[Panserbjorne]

Follow Your Heart cheese is the only one that I know of that is vegan and doesn't taste like cardboard.

[wendy1221]

Originally Posted by firefaery

Follow Your Heart cheese is the only one that I know of that is vegan and doesn't taste like cardboard.

I've never seen that brand. I assume it's soy. *sigh* Oh well, don't really need processed crap anyway, I guess. But it sure is good once in a while! LOL

[Momtwice]

I love a soy vegan cheese called Vegan Gourmet in the Monterey Jack flavor.
No casein.

[nikirj]

Yeah, Follow Your Heart has soy.

I am so, so confused now. Because I look at even my Follow Your Heart brand "cheese" and see no warning labels. I am pretty sure they didn't manufacture the "cheese" that long ago, right? I was under the impression that the law right this very instant was simply that it had to be listed in SOME form on the label, and that they didn't have to do the whole CONTAINS: warnings yet.

Either that or there are simply a boatload of noncompliant manufacturers that I like to buy from. I'd estimate that less than 1/3 of the items in my kitchen right now contain the clear warning labelling. Are they supposed to have the allergen list on their packaging now? Or just supposed to have it somewhere in the ingredients? Or are there multiple ways to be compliant? Or is there a lot of noncompliance?

Holy confused.

I've been reading labels for a while now and can scan really fast (gotten to the point where it barely takes longer than picking up the box unless I'm weeding out a bunch of products...like shopping for bread at a discount grocer, what a headache...), but those warning boxes sure are handy anyway. It would be nice if more people were using them. But I mean, I have a loaf of bread here that isn't labelled (it has an ingredient list, but things are "hiding" in there under other names), and no way that was made before Jan.

[wendy1221]

Oh, I think *I* was confused by your post and it led me to confuse you! SOrry! THey don't HAVE to put the "contains: " warning on things yet, but they DO have to clearly label top 8 ingredients. Like if a natural flavoring has dairy, the ingredient will say natural flavoring (milk). KWIM? THey can't say natural flavoring only anymore.