Tuesday, February 10, 2009

McDonald's French Fries Contain Dairy

I just recently learned that McDonald's french fries contain dairy in them.  Also, their chicken nuggets contain dairy as do the chicken nuggets at Wendy's (they must have changed their recipe in the last year or so).  Although my son has not had an anaphylactic reaction with the fries prior to my finding out, he has gotten rashes that we had no idea where they came from.  If you go to my website:  www.milkallergycompanion.com and click on the Eating Out Guide, there are links to the  nutritional information for these and other restaurants.  Always double check labels as companies are constantly changing their recipes.  If nothing else, at least my family will be a little bit healthier now that we can't have their fries:)  

12 comments:

Benny Boo and Linsey Lou said...

You can also find a very detailed list of fast foods on godairyfree.org

nanyu fonseca said...

hi! this is funny as I got an e-mail from McDonald's today (I had sent in an enquiry via their spanish website)confirming french fries DID NOT HAVE any milk on them and therefore they were safe for my child, who is cow's milk intollerant. can you double check?

congratulations on your blog and on your pregnancy!

nanyu fonseca said...

sorry, I forgot to tick the follow-up comments option.

Juventa said...

I think that their fries are fine for someone with an intolerance. The dairy is in the beef flavoring. This is from their website:

http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/ingredientslist.pdf

French Fries:
Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid
pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with
TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent).
CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK *(Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients).

I would only worry about them if you have a severe milk allergy (like anaphylactic). Some beef broth & bouillon contains dairy as well, but wouldn't be a problem for many people. Thanks for checking into this:)

nanyu fonseca said...

Hi!
Thanks for your reply! I'll check again, but in the mcdonaldsmenu.info website (at least for Spain) they say french fries haven't got milk. they say in tiny print that they cannot guarantee accidental traces though.

My little boy's got FPIES (quite severe, although apparently only to cow's proteins, both milk and meat). He's 18 months old and luckily can eat chicken, turkey, gluten, egg, fish and soya, and virtually all types of vegetables and fruit.

Juventa said...

That's terrific if the fries in Spain don't contain any dairy:) It makes life that much easier. Good luck with your research and with your son's condition. That's tough not being able to have the cow's meat. I have a friend with a similar condition. Thank goodness for chicken! Best of luck and thanks for the info!

Unknown said...

HI guys,
I came across these products from Arla:

http://www.arla.com/products/milk/lactofree-milk-intolerance/lactofree/

Sonya Dye said...

My son is allergic to Milk severely and he has been eating a Mc Donald's happy meal for three years (Hamburger, fries and drink). Not a rash or anything ever! Also, the Southern Style Chicken sandwich is safe! I cut up the chicken and he eats it plain. But he could eat the whole sandwich cause it is safe (taste just like a chick fil a sandwich!)
The chicken sandwich on the kids meal at wendy's is safe, and or hamburger. Everything on kids meal at Backyard Burger is milk free. And, the popcorn chicken (the no. 7) at Sonic is safe. :)

Cathy said...

It seems like the thing with protein intolerances is that every kid reacts differently. My son is going to be 2 next week. We took him to McD's for the first time. He didn't like the chicken "selects" but he ate a few french fries. It's a good thing he wasn't a bigger fan, because he had a horrible (allergic colitis) reaction to them. Hydrolyzing only breaks down the proteins so much, I guess, so it must depend on each kid's gut (my son also can't eat Oscar Mayer deli meat and I have no idea why - they insist it's dairy-free and I haven't heard of anyone else having an issue).

Girls Love Your Curls said...

I know this is an old posting, but McDonalds ingredients in the USA differ from Europe. That's probably why there is a discrepancy.

Girls Love Your Curls said...

I know this is an old posting, but I just thought I'd mention that McDonalds ingredients in the USA differ from Europe. That's probably why there is a discrepancy :).

Unknown said...

the fries in some countries are dairy free and some aren't :) USA have dairy and UK don't