IS IT DAIRY-FREE?

Sometimes when we are reading food labels, we think that what the label says must mean what we think it means.  Not so!  Be aware that when a product is labeled dairy-free, it does not mean it is necessarily casein-free.  Of course you’d think the easiest solution is to call the 1-800 manufacturer’s number on the side of the item, but you’d be surprised how often they don’t know what you’re talking about.  Often they make the same mistake as the consumer - surely dairy-free means no casein.  Casein is a milk protein that can be separated and used apart from the milk it has come from, and is used in a staggering number of products that you would not normally associate with a dairy protein.  Casein is used in everything from adhesives and emulsions to plastics and of course, food.  When casein is used in a non-dairy product, there is no legal obligation for the manufacturer to state the presence of the milk protein, as it is considered a trace amount - and therein lies the problem.  No need to label trace amounts means a problem for casein allergy sufferers.  Indeed TACA states that casein “is a term the dairy industry invented to indicate less than 1/2 % milk by weight, which could mean fully as much casein as whole milk”.
Here are some other names that casein - or a substance which contains casein - goes by on food labels:
whey, curds, sodium caseinate, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, lactose (sodium lactylate), lactalbumin, galactose, hydrolized caseinate.
There are new substances containing whey or one of the above coming onto the market all the time.  Only by asking the question “Does this contain casein?”, will we receive the right up-to-date and accurate information from the consumer’s - and not the marketer’s or manufacturer’s - point of view.