YorkTest > Allergy or Intolerance? > Dairy Intolerance

Dairy products are usually defined as foods produced from cow's milk. Most of the milk we use for processing generally comes from cows, but occasionally from other mammals such as goats, sheep, water buffalo, yaks, or horses. Dairy products are commonly found in European, Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine, whereas they are almost unknown in East Asian cuisine. Essentially a dairy product is any milk or milk-made product; examples are butter, yoghurt, cheese, ice-cream, whey, crème fraiche, buttermilk, ghee, kefir, curds and quark. Eggs can be categorized as dairy, defining dairy as "food that is produced by animals (other than meat)" rather than as milk specifically. While eggs are, indeed, produced by animals and, therefore, an animal by-product, they are not really a dairy product or a derivative of dairy products.

More and more alternatives to milk and eggs are becoming readily available. Examples are oat, rice, coconut, soya and almond milks, and for eggs, commercial egg replacers (with ingredients such as potato starch and  tapioca flour), mashed bananas to add bulk, and tofu. Of course it is important to test whether an individual has intolerance to dairy produce or any of these alternatives before embarking on any dietary changes.