How to cook for someone with Food Allergies: If you or someone that you are cooking for suffers from severe food allergies, it is imperative that you check the ingredient panel of each item that you use in your cooking, in order to ensure that the item does not contain any food allergens. This must be done every time that the item is purchased, as food manufacturers often change their ingredients without notice. In addition, you must be sure that any open containers of food to be used in your cooking have not been "contaminated" with a food allergen. For example, a jar of jelly which does not have any dairy, egg, or nut ingredients listed in its ingredient panel will contain peanut and likely milk proteins if at some point in time a knife that had peanut butter on it, or butter or margarine, had been placed in the jelly jar; in this case, the jelly should not be eaten by a person who has the food allergy.

The list of ways in which milk or milk derivatives can be listed on an ingredient panel is dauntingly long, and milk products seem to show up in a large percentage of packaged foods on the market today. Any ingredients listed in bold in these recipes are packaged ingredients that are not "pure" products such as canola oil. The bold is a reminder for you to double-check the ingredient panels of these products every time you use them. And, if they happened to be used in a way in which they become "contaminated", I use an indelible marker and mark that product with an "X" as a reminder to myself that it is no long a ‘safe’ ingredient. Finally, remember that "dairy-free" doesn’t necessarily mean it is milk protein free. You MUST read the label, every time.

MILK PRODUCTS and MILK PROTEINS
Casein (this is milk protein)
Sodium caseinate or any other sort of caseinate
Lactose
Lactalbumen
Lactoglobulin
Whey
Curds
Milk, milk solids, buttermilk, dry milk, goat’s milk
Butter, butterfat
Cheese
Most brands and varieties of soy cheese (most contain casein)
Cream, half and half, whipped cream, whipping cream, sour cream
Cool Whip^® and most other brands of "non-dairy whipped topping" (contain casein)Yogurt, frozen yogurt
Ice cream, ice milk, sherbert
Milk chocolate (be especially careful of dark chocolate, it may be made on the same manufacturing line as milk chocolate without the equipment being sterilized first. Your best defense is to call the manufacturer and ask what else is produced on the dark chocolate line).
Pudding
Recaldent (a dairy derived ingredient found in some chewing gums)
Anything labeled "Kosher Dairy". Look on the front of the product label for a small K or a U, followed by a small D or followed by the word "Dairy." If there are no dairy ingredients listed in the ingredient panel, the "Kosher Dairy" label alerts you to the fact that the product is made on equipment that may be contaminated with dairy ingredients, and therefore may not be safe for a milk-allergic individual to consume.
Simplesse^® artificial fat

Chef’s Note: There are a number of cookbooks that claim they are food people with food allergies, including milk allergies. Most recipes, however, rely on "dairy-free" ingredients, which, for the most part, contain a milk protein or milk derivative that cannot be used in a strict avoidance diet. I have found only one cookbook that can satisfy the needs of a strict avoidance diet. It is the source for most of the information above, and is highly recommended. What’s to Eat? The Milk-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free Food Allergy Cookbook, by Linda Marienhoff Coss, Copyright 2000, 2002 by Linda Marienhoff Coss (Plumtree Press 2000).

Luke Approved! Meatballs
Israeli Carrot Salad

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