Students with dairy allergies should take caution before eating the ice cream served in the caf.
The ice cream isn’t actually dairy-free, as many students my think, and people with certain dairy allergies shouldn’t eat it.
The ice cream served in the caf is labeled as “non-dairy,” which is different from dairy-free. The Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory definition of non-dairy allows the presence of milk proteins, such as caseinate.
There is no FDA definition in place for “dairy-free,” so anything labeled “dairy free” isn’t necessarily free of milk proteins either, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.
Celia Tedde, a music theater/vocal performance freshman, has a milk protein allergy. She discovered the ice cream isn’t dairy-free after eating it for nearly two semesters when she had an allergic reaction.
Tedde
“I’m allergic to milk and I didn’t know about this,” Tedde said. “It said non-dairy on the sign, which to me meant ‘green light, you’re good to go.’ I had no idea that non-dairy was regulated as still containing some milk products, which I’m actually pretty mad about.”
The ingredients labeled on the package of the ice cream include sugar, dextrose, corn syrup, coconut oil, dutch-processed cocoa (with soy leichtin), maltodextrin, guar and xanthan gums, sodium caseinate, salt, mono and diglycerides, artificial flavor, and silicon dioxide. The ingredient that those with milk allergies must be wary of is sodium caseinate. It is a milk derivative and the protein that Tedde is allergic to.
Tedde offered a solution on how students could be warned of the misunderstanding.
“I’m sure the caf employees don’t even know about this,” Tedde said. “They saw non-dairy on the package, so it’s labeled as non-dairy, and that’s not their fault. If possible, I think it’d be nice if there were more signage and listed ingredients so we can make decisions on what we can eat ourselves.”
Students with lactose intolerance are safe to eat the ice cream. Sodium caseinate is not a source of lactose, so the ice cream is “lactose-free.”
“I’ve learned that you really have to do your research and question and ask about everything,” Tedde said. “You never know what has milk in it. I think a lot of non-dairy food is made for people with lactose intolerance, and it’s not the same thing.”
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