Karen Blue | Allergy

Karen Blue

by Allergy Guy

Growing up with allergies, both food and environmental was a challenge. Fortunately as a teen I out grew most of my multiple allergies.

Years later, one of my two children has a milk allergy. I started the web site Avoiding Milk Protein first as a way to learn about, and find food that is truly free of dairy. As I went on, I discovered how many foods and products have entered the market for the allergic consumer. I also learned, and shared different strategies for coping with life with an allergic child.

As my gluten Free lists grow as well as nut and milk free lists, so did my knowledge and experiences. I continue to marvel at the creativity people put into dealing with the hazards of allergies.

Karen Blue
Avoiding Milk Protein

Karen has contributed a number of articles to the Allergy Details newsletter, and this site, including Milk Alternatives.

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Stephanie Moidel April 7, 2014 at 11:42

” If you are also allergic to milk, be aware that in Jewish law, a food product may be considered pareve, if it contains a very small amount of milk. Food marked parve could potentially have enough milk protein in it to cause a reaction in a milk-allergic person.”

Ms. Blue, this is very misleading. To be certified as Kosher Pareve, a product cannot contain any milk or milk derived substance including those items like sodium and calcium stearoyl lactylate, casein, caseinate, or lactose as an ingredient. Even very small amounts of milk in the food would cause it to be labeled as Dairy.

Some manufacturer make both dairy and non-dairy [pareve] products on the same line. Some kosher certification groups use the designation -DE to denote that the product while non-dairy was manufactured on a line that also makes dairy products.

The Union of Orthodox Rabbis [OU] certification group does not use the DE designation as they require separate manufacturing lines for dairy and non-dairy to prevent cross contamination.

Some manufacturers, certified by OU, which have Kosher Pareve and Kosher Dairy production lines for the same product in a single plant add a warning thru an abundance of caution because there is the very small but not zero possibility of airborne contamination of the pareve line.

However these levels would be well below the maximum 30 ppm level recommended in the latest double blind study of allergy trigger levels available which realistically could occur if the same production line is used to make both dairy and non-dairy products were made on the same product line.

You can find this study at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12911777

I do have a milk allergy as do my daughters, and we keep kosher so I’ve long been a reader of labels. None of us have ever had a reaction to a Kosher Pareve product. We have had problems with many “non-dairy” non-Kosher products.

Out of curiosity I took a look in my pantry to see if any of the Kosher Pareve products I had on hand had the “milk warning” on the label. None of them did, a few did have warnings of egg, wheat or soy allergens and one had a nut allergen warning [a mayonnaise made with peanut oil]

Stephanie Moidel

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2 Roberta December 15, 2009 at 06:39

Venison

I’m not allergic to anything. Ever. My husband took up archery this year and got a deer. I’ve prepared it (well-cooked) 4 times and each time had severe stomach pains, gas, diarrhea. Could I be allergic to Venison? My husband and friends who joined us for dinner have had no reaction. If I am allergic, can I eventually become used to it to the point where I have no reaction at all if I start with a small amount and gradually increase it? We have 50 pounds of the stuff in the freezer! Thank You, Karen!

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3 admin December 15, 2009 at 11:12

Venison

Hi Roberta,

It does sound odd that you might suddenly develop a venison allergy, when you have no other allergies.

If venison makes you ill, I suggest you avoid it.

Possibly your reaction has ore to do with what it ate than venison in general.

Either way, I doubt you’ll get used to before the meat gets freezer burn.

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4 Roberta December 15, 2009 at 13:43

Venison

Sorry, I thought your name was Karen. I’m Roberta. Anyway, my husband will be so deflated if I can’t eat venison. Do you know if there is an allergy test for Venison to verify one way or the other? Thank YOu!!

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5 admin December 15, 2009 at 22:56

Venison

Karen was a guest writer for the original article.

As far as allergy testing, best to ask your allergist what tests are available.

Best of luck

– Doug

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