Are Oreos Dairy-Free?

Oreos now have the U D symbol on the front of the package that means they are Kosher but they may….

1.  Contain milk or

2.  Be processed in a plant with milk

You can read more about Kosher labeling at Kids with Food Allergies.

One of our readers added:

“Actually UD simply means the equipment has been approved and blessed for kosher foods. When doing early research I found that Nabisco uses shared equipment, however they do a full allergy clean up between products. So while the dairy is gone all foods processed on the equipment still gets the kosher labeling.”

This UD warning is on many of the Nabisco items we safely eat.

That first “cocoa processed with alkali” is a milk-free chocolate.

But I do understand the concern on that last mention of “chocolate”.

I’m not sure what it is, either.

I remember questioning this from the get-go and calling the company after another milk allergy mom told me Oreos were milk-free.

I can’t remember exactly what the company told me at that time but it must have been assuring enough for us to try them.

And we did….with success.

My son loves Oreos, and has successfully eaten them for many years.

But now that some moms have expressed concern about the “chocolate” ingredient…

I’ve been on a renewed mission to get more scoop on this.

First, I called Nabisco and they told me in a round-about way that the cookies do not contain milk.

I asked about the last ingredient, chocolate…

and they said that if it was made from milk, it would contain the word “milk”….

such as “chocolate derived from milk” or “milk” put in parentheses.

They did say that if I had further concerns, I should call the Food Allergy and Anaplylaxis Network.

So I did call FAAN.

And they said I should look on their website at “how to read a label” for milk products.

I looked on there but I did not see this information except for a resource card that I could purchase.

If anyone else sees this information on the site, let me know.

I assume I am looking to see if “chocolate” would be listed as a milk ingredient.

In which case, I assume it WOULD be.

That is why this issue is tricky.

We all know, that in general, chocolate has milk.

But there ARE ways to do chocolate without milk.  

Cocoa with alkali or chocolate liquor.  

Maybe some others.

So I still feel like there’s not a real answer about the “chocolate” issue.

Although, I notice Teddy Grahams and Meijer Chocoalte Graham crackers also contain “chocolate” that doesn’t appear to contain dairy. Hmmmm….

On another interesting note, I found a milk allergy recall on Oreos from 2005.

The recall was for mini Oreos.

The mini Oreos were supposed to be milk free but a certain batch ended up with pieces of Ritz Bitz Cheese Sandwiches in them, thus contaminating the Oreos with milk.

The company, at the time, was saying there is not supposed to be milk in Mini Oreos.

With that said, I will copy and paste the ingredient list for Mini Oreos from the Nabisco website.

Notice chocolate is the last ingredient.

One concern, however, would be if the ingredients have changed from the time of the recall mentioned above and the posting of these current ingredients on the Nabisco website.

Here’s another recall.

This is regarding Oreo 100 Calorie Pack Thin Crisps.

They were recalled because they were included in a variety box with Chips Ahoy Crisps.

The Chips Ahoy Crisps contained milk.

The Oreo Crisps did not.

But the box that contained both did not say milk was contained in the Chips Ahoy Crisps.

I can’t find the ingredient list for Oreo 100 Calorie Packs online.

But I would guess that they too have chocolate as an ingredient.

And if so, this recall is saying they should not contain milk.

Unless, of course, the ingredient list was different than it is now.

Another concern that I have is that PETA’s “accidentally vegan” list omits regular Oreos.

I am not a PETA member.  

But I do like the accidentally vegan list because it gives me a reference for finding safe snacks.

I do remember consulting this list before trying Oreos, and I really thought they were on there as ok.

But I could be wrong.

Now the list only has “Spring Oreos”, “Uh Oh Oreos”, and “Chocolate Cream Oreos”.

So if regular Oreos aren’t on there, is it because PETA believes they contain milk?

There are some allergy parents who do not allow their children to have foods that are processed by companies that process other foods with their allergen.

For example, they would not let their children have Oreos, even if they were milk-free, because Nabisco makes products like Ritz Cheese Crackers.

Some parents like to find out specifically about facilities and production lines before they give their kids certain processed foods.

Kudos to the parents who take the time to check things out thoroughly.

And then there are the parents who don’t want to feed their kids processed foods anyways.

They prefer to bake nutritious snacks at home.

Kudos to those moms, too!  

The best we do around here is maintain balance.

I have some convenient foods around but also like to make nutritious treats from scratch. 

I got a chance to read some vegan message boards from recent years and learned a little more on this topic.

Vegans, like us allergy moms, have been trying to figure out if Oreos contain milk as well.

So now I don’t feel so “stupid”. Ha!

Obviously there is not an easy answer.

They mentioned a few interesting things.

One is that apparently Oreos are made in several different places and ingredients can vary by region.

Two is that Oreo has changed the ingredients at times.

Some were saying they used to contain whey and that was THEIR main topic at hand regarding milk.

They weren’t even discussing the “chocolate” ingredient as we are today.

I have not heard of them containing whey, but apparently that was one of the ingredients taken out some time back.

Please comment on this post and tell us if your milk allergic child eats Oreos or if he/she has had a reaction to Oreos.  

Please include how severe the milk allergy is, as well.  

This info will help the hundreds of people who read this post each day.  

Thanks so much!  

We hope this information about Oreos has been helpful to you.

Always check labels for yourself. Ingredients can change.