When “Dairy Free” isn’t Dairy Free…

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I was at Whole Foods the other day looking for some allergen free chocolate chips that I have purchased in the past so that I could bake some chocolate chip cookies for Christmas.  As I looked for the kind I knew was safe and usually would purchase, I came across carob chips that caught my eye.

I learned about carob chips from my husband, whose family baked carob cookies every Christmas instead of chocolate chips.  I knew they were supposed to be vegan / dairy free.  The packaging also said, in big letters VEGAN.  So I picked up the bag and read the ingredients to make sure it wasn’t cross contaminated with nuts.  To my surprise, I found a very different warning.  “May Contain Traces of Milk Protein.”

What?

The very definition of “Vegan” is dairy / egg / meat free.  “May contain milk” does not meet a vegan definition.  Do Vegans care?  I know their avoidance of milk is a moral choice, and not a health necessity.  However, ours is a health necessity because our youngest son is allergic to milk.  He will get hives and start wheezing if he consumes anything with milk in it.  So “may contain traces of milk” is a huge deal to us, and I personally felt outrage to see a product labeled “VEGAN” with such a warning label on the back.

It reminded me of a time I was trying to find a dairy free cheese substitute.  I found some rice and soy cheese, but they had the same warning “May contain milk.”  Others actually had “casein”, the milk protein, listed as an ingredient.  How is that dairy free?

This isn’t just a rant, although I do feel much better now.  This is also a warning.  “Vegan” does not always mean “100% Dairy Free”, and just because it’s soy or rice “cheese” doesn’t mean it’s free of cow’s milk.  Keep this in mind the next time you shop for your dairy allergic member of the family.  Always read labels and check for allergy warnings.

Disclaimer: The image above is merely for reference purposes. It is not a product recommendation by AlwaysSick.com.

Related articles

• Is this Vegan? A Guide to Buying Vegan Food (brighthub.com)
• Vegan Chocolate Tart (craftzine.com)
• Can’t Tolerate Dairy? (everydayhealth.com)