Non-dairy Coffee Creamer

[mmaccartney]

I've noticed for some time that "non-dairy coffee creamer" actually contains sodium caseinate.

Sodium Caseinate is a milk deriviative.

I looked into it a bit, and the FDA allows a product with Sodium Caseinate as an ingredient to label the product as "non-dairy",:

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Dairy scientists and the Food and Drug Administration agree that these are non-dairy creamers because the caseinate has been so altered it can no longer be considered dairy. According to the information on the Coffee-mate website, "When sodium caseinate is processed, it is so materially altered that both dairy scientists and government regulators no longer regard it as a true dairy substance. This is why sodium caseinate can be an ingredient in non-dairy products according to FDA's regulation 21 CFR101.4 (d). Sodium caseinate also is not a source of lactose."

Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 101 deals with food labeling. Section 101.4 presents the rules for designation of ingredients in foods. Section 101.4 (d) reads as follows:

When foods characterized on the label as "nondairy" contain a caseinate ingredient, the caseinate ingredient shall be followed by a parenthetical statement identifying its source. For example, if the manufacturer uses the term "nondairy" on a creamer that contains sodium caseinate, it shall include a parenthetical term such as "a milk derivative" after the listing of sodium caseinate in the ingredient list.

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So, does this mean that we won't react to it?? I'm not going to test that out on myself!

I find the most humor in the fact that you have a product that has "Non-Dairy" listed right on the product label. Then read the ingredients and you find ....sodium caseinate (Milk).. listed!!

A legal oxymoron! What a riot!!

[jerseyangel]

Yep--Makes me mad, too! Cool Whip is the same thing. I use Vance's Dairi Free dry, as a creamer in my tea. It tastes great.

[VydorScope]

Yep, very cruel joke. I agree on Vance... but I jsut drink my coffee black its safer

[Carriefaith]

That's horrible

Maybe try Almond Breeze in your coffee instead.

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[tarnalberry]

"Dairy free" on foods, from a labeling restriction sense, was originally worded to accomodate the only dairy problem people thought about - lactose intolerance. So, if it didn't have lactose, it was dairy free. Yeah, we all know this is crap, but that's what happens when uninformed people (or people who don't care that they are uninformed) write the regulations.

[lorka150]

If you can tolerate soy, Silk makes a creamer available in Original, Hazelnut, and Vanilla.