Your All Access Pass to Dairy Ingredients

So you’ve been told that you need to go dairy-free. If you suffer from a dairy intolerance or if one of your children has just been diagnosed, then it may require a complete overhaul in your regular shopping staples. Sure, milk is off the table now but what else contains dairy? When checking out the ingredient list on your favourite foods, have a look at the label. If the product contains these items, then it’s dairy and is probably best left on the shop shelf:

Milks goats milk, half and half, acidophilus milk, condensed milk, low fat milk, hydrolysed milk protein, skim milk, dry milk powder, no fat milk, dry milk solids, evaporated milk, sour milk solids, sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, milk fat, milk powder, malted milk,
Butters and creams butter, natural butter flavour, butter fat, butter oil, buttermilk, buttermilk powder, cream, custard, sour cream, whipped cream, yoghurt,
Cheeses cottage cheese, all animal based cheeses,
Dessert nougat, paneer, pudding, whipped topping
Caseintate calcium caseintate, ammonium caseintate, hydrolysed casein, iron caseintate, potassium caseintate, sodium caseintate, magnesium caseintate, zinc caseintate
Whey Products whey, sweet whey, delactosed whey, demineralized whey, whey powder, whey protein concentrate, whey protein hydrolyse
Other lactose, lactulose, lactalbumin, lactoferrin, lactoglobulin,

There are additional products that may contain traces of dairy products during the processing. These can include items such as:

Artificial and natural flavouring
Fat replacers
Lactic Acid starter culture
Prebiotics
Margarine
Hydrolysedvegetable protein
Calcium or Sodium Stearoyl
LactylateCalcium, Sodium, or Potassium Lactate
Caramel Colour
Lactic Acid

Dairy Free Alternatives

Does it feel like basically anything worth eating is now listed as a no-no? Well, the good news is that there are several items in the no-no categories (milks, butters and oils), that are actually dairy free. These include the surprising:

Butters Shea butter, nut butters such as almond and peanut butter, fruit butter, coconut butter, cocoa butter and cocoa powder
Malted products malted vinegar, malt liquor, malted barley or grain based malts
Creams creamed honey, cream of tartar, cream of coconut, coconut cream,
Milk products milk thistle
Calcium products – Calcium Propionate, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Citrate and Calcium Phosphate

While keeping track of what items are on the no-no list and what ingredients are okay may seem confusing now, it will get easier in time. Soon you won’t have a problem distinguishing calcium propionate and calcium caseintate and knowing which one is okay. But, for now, it’s okay to print this sheet off and use it as a cheat guide on your next trip to the shops. We won’t tell”