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Allergy friendly Shopping

Health & Nutrition >> Health Articles >> news article templatesHealthy Eating >> Allergy friendly Shopping

While some allergens are easy to spot, others are a little more difficult, making a trip to the supermarket a daunting task. But if you know what to look for (and what to avoid), you can take the guesswork and anxiety out of food shopping. Dietitian Tracy Morris takes a look at six of the most common allergens, and where they can hide.

Allergen 1: Cow’s milk

Food Labels Food Hidden Dangers

These ingredients may contain These foods may contain Cow’s milk:
Cow’s milk:

Butter, butter fat	•Grains, bread, cereals and pasta: Bread, breakfast cereals and
Buttermilk	muesli
Casein (in all forms)	• Dairy, dairy products and alternatives: All dairy products
Cheese (in all forms)	including A2 milk, long life milk, soy cheese, soy yoghurt,
Chocolate	vegetarian cheese
Cream (in all forms)	•Meat, fish, poultry and alternatives: Battered or crumbed food
Crème fraiche / fromage frais	(eg – chicken nuggets, schnitzel), canned fish, meat loaf, meat pies
(Frûche)	and sausage rolls, sausages, and most processed meats, including
Cow’s milk in all forms including:	deli meats (chicken loaf, devon, salami)
condensed, evaporated,	•Sauces, condiments, dressings and soups: Commercial soups,
imitation, lactose free, powder,	dips, gravy, salad dressings, sauces, spreads, stock cubes
protein, protein hydrolysate,	• Snack foods: Flavoured crisps, savoury snacks
solids, sour milk	•Baked goods: Biscuits, cakes, muffins, pastries
Curds	•Desserts and confectionery: Butterscotch, caramel lollies,
Custard	carob, frozen desserts, milky ice blocks, nougat, puddings, soy
Ghee	chocolate, toffee
Goat or sheep’s milk	•Beverages and alcohol: Flavoured coffees, fruit juice, malted
Ice-cream	milk drinks
Lactalbumin, lactalbumin	• Other: Infant formulas based on milk, natural/artificial flavouring,
phosphate, lactoferrin, lactose,	egg replacers, non-dairy whiteners.
lactulose, lactoacidophilus,
lactoglobulin
Margarine
Rennet
Whey (in all forms)
Whitener
Yoghurt

Nutrients you’re at risk of missing:

Peanuts provide: chromium, magnesium, manganese, niacin, and vitamin E. Tree nuts provide: B vitamins, vitamin E, ‘good’ fats, fibre and selenium. Sesame seeds provide: calcium, copper, fibre, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, vitamin B1 and zinc.

Allergen 2: Seafood

Food Labels Food Hidden Dangers

These ingredients may contain These foods may contain Seafood:
Seafood:

Caviar	• Meat, fish, poultry and alternatives: Canned spreads, shrimp
Any crustaceans, including	paste, surimi (minced fish)
crawfish and shrimps (crevette)	• Sauces, condiments, dressings and soups: Bouillabaisse (fish
Imitation crab	soup/stew), commercial soups, curry paste, dips, fish stock, salad
Any molluscs, including abalone,	dressings, tapenade (olive/anchovy paste), Worcestershire sauce
cockle, octopus, sea snails	• Desserts and confectionery: Marshmallow
Squid (calamari)	• Beverages and alcohol: Wine (finned with shellfish)
Fish	• Takeaway meals: Antipasto, Caesar or Greek salad, food cooked
Surimi (minced fish)	at seafood restaurants, pizza toppings, regional cuisine (various
Sushi and sashimi	Asian, Italian, Greek and Spanish dishes), sushi
	• Other: Cuttlefish and squid ink, fish oil supplements, gelatin,
	glucosamine supplements, natural or artificial flavouring, seafood
	flavouring (crab or clam extract).

Nutrients you’re at risk of missing:

Seafood provides iodine, iron, magnesium, niacin, omega-3 fats, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, vitamins B6 and B12 and zinc.

Allergen 3: Peanuts, tree nuts & sesame

Food Labels Food Hidden Dangers

these ingredients may contain these foods may contain peanuts or tree nuts:
tree nuts or sesame:

Nut ‘snacks’, including artificial	• Grains, bread, cereals and pasta: Cereals, muesli, bread
nuts, beer nuts, ground nuts,	• Meat, fish, poultry and alternatives: Mortadella, nut meat or nut
mixed nuts, monkey nuts,	rissoles, processed meats/sausages/chicken, textured or hydrolysed
nut meat, nut meal, defatted	vegetable protein (TVP/HVP), vegetarian foods (such as tempeh,
peanuts, granulated peanuts	vegetarian burgers)
and nut flakes	• Sauces, condiments, dressings and soups: Chutney, commercial
Any nut including almond,	sauces and soups, dips, dressings, gomashio (Japanese condiment
beechnut, Brazil (cream nut,	made from unhulled sesame seeds), hommous, marinades, patés,
para nut), cashews, chestnuts	pesto, satay sauce, tahina/tahini, Worcestershire sauce
(chinquapin), coconut, ginkgo	• Fats, oils and spreads: Nut spreads (eg – Nutella), sesame oil
nut, hazelnuts (filberts), hickory	• Snack foods: Cereal, health, or muesli bars, crackers (including
nuts, lychee nut, macadamia	rice), mandelonas (peanuts soaked in almond flavouring), pretzels
(Australian nuts, Queensland	• Desserts and confectionery: Cassata, chocolates, fudge,
nuts), nangai nuts, pecans, pili	gianduja, halvah, ice-cream, lollies, macaroons, marzipan, nougat,
nut, pine nuts (pignoli, pinon	praline, Turkish delight
nuts, Indian nuts, stone nuts),	• Baked goods: baklava, banana bread, Biscuits, cakes (including
pistachios, shea nut, walnuts	carrot), cheesecake, Christmas cake, flourless cakes, friands,
(butternuts)	hamburger rolls, pastries, pies.
Hydrolysed plant protein,	• Takeaway meals: Egg rolls, Asian cuisine (Chinese, Indian,
hydrolysed vegetable protein	Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese), some African and Mexican dishes
Natural flavourings	(chilli con carne, enchilada sauce), Waldorf salad, risottos
Natural nut extract (walnut hull,	• Other: Herbs and spices.
black walnut hull, natural nut,
nut distillates/alcoholic extracts)	These these ingredients may contain sesame:
Nut oil, vegetable fats and oils	•Anjonjoli Benne, benneseed, benniseed
Peanut butter, nut butters/paste	•Gingelly seeds, gingelly oil Natural flavouring
Peanut flour	•Sesame seed, Sesarmol, Sesomolina, Sim sim
Peanut oil, arachis oil (used in	•Tahina, Tahini, Til, teel, Vegetable oil
cosmetics)
Peanut protein hydrolysate

Nutrients you’re at risk of missing:

Allergen 4: Eggs

Food Labels Food Hidden Dangers

These ingredients may contain These foods may contain Eggs:
Eggs:

Albumin, ovalbumin	• Grains, bread, cereals and pasta: Egg pasta, macaroni,
Apovitellin	noodles
Egg in any form including dried,	•Meat, fish, poultry and alternatives: All food made with
powdered, solids, white, yolk,	or containing eggs such as battered or crumbed foods (such
substitutes, eggnog, white	as fritters, schnitzel), frittatas, hamburgers, omelettes, quiche,
solids, imitation egg products	rissoles or meat loaf, sausages, surimi (minced fish) and other
Flovoproteins	bird eggs, such as duck or goose eggs
Glaze	• Snack foods: pretzels
Globulin	• Sauces, condiments, dressings and soups: béarnaise,
Livetin	Caesar salad and Ranch dressing, commercial soups,
Lysozyme	hollandaise, mayonnaise, tartare sauce
Meringue mix	• Desserts and confectionery: Custard, frozen desserts, icecream,
Ovglycoprotein	marzipan, marshmallows, meringues, mousse, nougat,
Ovomucoid, ovomuxoid	pancakes, pavlova mix, pikelets, sorbet, waffles
	• Baked goods: Biscuits, cakes, cheese cake, doughnuts,
	glazed pastries and breads, macaroons, slices, soufflés,
	spinach pie
	• Beverages and alcohol: Eggnog, malted drinks, milk drink
	mixes, wine
	• Takeaway meals: Caesar salad, fried chicken, fried rice
	• Other: Baking powder, egg lecithin.

Nutrients you’re at risk of missing:

Eggs are a good source of biotin, folate, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, selenium and vitamin B12. Many bread products contain eggs, which may impact on other B vitamins, iron and fibre.

Substitutes for eggs in recipes:

For leavening: 1 egg = 1 teaspoon + baking powder + 1 tablespoon water + 1 tablespoon white vinegar
For binding: 1 egg = 1 tablespoon apple purée

Allergen 5: Soy

Food Labels Food Hidden Dangers

These ingredients These foods may contain Soy:
may contain Soy:

Bean curd	• Grains, bread, cereals and
Edamame	pasta: bread, cereals
Hydrolysed plant	• Meat, fish, poultry and
protein	alternatives: Canned tuna
Hydrolysed soy	• Dairy, dairy products and
protein	alternatives: Soy cheese, soy
Hydrolysed	milk, soy yoghurt
vegetable protein	• Snack foods: Baked goods,
Miso	crackers
Natto	•Sauces, condiments, dressings
Okara	and soups: Commercial sauces,
Soy, soya, soja,	vegetable broth, vegetable stock
soyabean,	•Takeaway meals: Asian dishes
soybean	• Other: Flavouring (natural/
Soy albumin	artificial), infant formula, protein
Soy flour	drinks and bars, vegetable gum,
Soy sauce	vegetable starch.
Soy sprouts, soy
fibre, soy grits,
soy nuts
Tamari
Tempeh
Textured vegetable
protein (TVP)
Tofu
Yuba
Note: soy lecithin
and refined soy oil
are highly refined
soy products and
are usually tolerated
by people who are
allergic to soy

Nutrients you’re at risk of missing:

Soy products provide calcium, folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, riboflavin, thiamin, vitamin B6 and zinc.

Allergen 6: Gluten

While coeliac disease is not an allergy, it does involve an immune system response to foods containing gluten.

Food Labels Food Hidden Dangers

These ingredients may contain These foods may contain Gluten:
Gluten:

Barley	• Grains, bread, cereals and pasta: Bread containing barley, oats,
Bread crumbs	rye or wheat, bulgur, cereals containing barley malt extract, couscous,
Cereal extract	pasta, semolina, spelt bread
Club wheat	• Dairy, dairy products and alternatives: Malted milk, soy milk
Cornflour	• Meat, fish, poultry and alternatives: Baked beans, flavoured tuna,
Cracker meal	processed meats (devon, sausages) stuffing, seitan (vegetarian wheat
Durum	meat), surimi (minced fish), textured or hydrolysed vegetable protein
Einkorn	(TVP or HVP)
•
Flour	stocks, chutney, dips, mustards, malt vinegar, relish, sauces, soy sauce
Hydrolysed wheat protein	• Fats, oils and spreads: Yeast extract (Promite, Vegemite)
Kamut	• Snack foods: Crackers, crispbreads, flavoured crisps and corn chips
Matzah meal	• Baked goods: Biscuits, crumpets, filo pastry, fruit and meat pies,
Modified starches, thickeners,	muffins, pastries, sausage rolls
malt and maltodextrin derived	• Desserts and confectionery: Chocolates, hundreds & thousands,
from wheat	ice-cream cones, licorice, waffles
Oats, oat bran	• Beverages and alcohol: Ale, beer, milk flavourings, stout
Rye	n Takeaway meals: Battered and crumbed food, pizza
Semolina, farina	n Other: Baking powder, BBQ salts and flavourings, some commercial
Spelt	yeast, wheat grass
Triticale
Wheat (bran, germ, gluten, grass,
sprouts, sprouted)