Network Health Dietitians July 08 Issue 36

cutting down on . . .
By law cosmetics, toiletries, perfumes and medications
include a list of ingredients on their packaging. Where the
labelling is in Latin OVUM or OVO mean egg. These products
by Tanya Wright should only be avoided if they caused irritation. For those
Specialist Dietitian
who do react and wish to avoid this; avid label reading or
choosing vegan products is the way forward.
Cutting down on eggs
Egg Replacers
Have no nutritional value but are useful in cooking. Some
Egg avoidance is usually associated with immediate whole egg replacers are available on prescription (look in
reactions to consuming scrambled egg or other forms of
the BNF). Whole egg replacers and egg white replacers can
egg in infants and children, which is often outgrown by
also be purchased from the pharmacist and health food
their ﬁ fth birthday.
shops.
In addition to this well documented group there are
Whole egg replacers
older children and adults avoiding eggs who require allergy
- Whole egg replacer (Allergycare)
testing to assess if they have outgrown their allergy and can
- Ener-G egg replacer (General Dietary)
reintroduce them.
- Loproﬁ n egg replacer (SHS)
Some people avoid eggs because they dislike the taste or
- No-egg replacer (Orgran)
texture – many of these having outgrown an allergy to them
Egg White replacer
but are left with an aversion to eating them.
- Loproﬁ n egg white replacer (SHS)
Some ﬁ nd eczema and other skin conditions are improved
Egg free substitute foods
when eggs are reduced or cut out, as are gastrointestinal
These are available from health food shops some supermar-
symptoms such as those associated with irritable bowel syn-
kets and www.goodnessdirect.co.uk
drome and many other types of non allergic food hypersensi-
- egg free mayonnaise (6 ﬂ avours)
tivities.
- egg free cakes & mufﬁ ns
Whatever the reason for excluding or cutting down on
- egg free omelette mix
egg consumption, the advice is only to avoid to the level of
tolerance as over-restricting diets unnecessarily restricts food
Recipes/baking
choice, variety, taste and nutrition of the diet.
- Recipes can be adapted using egg replacers or other
ingredients
Egg allergy
- Vegan recipes are all egg free by deﬁ nition – invest in a
Egg allergy can be:
vegan cookbook or get some recipes from the Vegan
- to all forms of egg (well cooked, loosely cooked and raw)
Society or a vegan website e.g. www.veganvillage.co.uk
- only to loosely cooked and raw egg
The table shows a suggested classiﬁ cation of egg containing
foods which is helpful when advising patients; depending on
Well cooked egg Loosely cooked egg Raw egg
the level of avoidance required. Cakes Fresh Mousse
Egg avoidance
Biscuits Meringues Fresh Mayonnaise
It is easy to avoid eggs that are served in a recognisable
Dried egg pasta Lemon curd Fresh Ice cream
form however they are often disguised in prepared and man- Egg in sausages pre- Quiche Sorbet
ufactured foods. From November 2005, manufactured pre-
pared meat dishes
packaged foods sold within the European Union have been
Well Cooked fresh egg Scrambled egg Royal icing (both fresh
required by Law to list egg in the ingredients panel where it is
pasta powdered icing sugar)
a component of the product, however tiny the amount.
Egg glaze on pastry Boiled egg Horseradish sauce
Any foods that do not contain egg but are made on the Sponge ﬁ ngers Fried egg Tartar sauce
same production line as foods containing egg do not have
Quorn Omelette Raw egg in cake mix
to tell you this. Many food manufacturers are now voluntarily
and other dishes await-
including this information; which should only be of interest
ing cooking
(Children of all ages
to those with very severe egg allergy, and even then many love to taste!)
evidently choose to ignore it.
Nougat, milky way, Poached egg ‘Frico’ edam cheese
Some foods do not have a food ingredients label e.g. mars bar, chewitts or other cheeses
delicatessen, bakery and butchery products. These foods
containing egg white
lysozyme.
should be avoided on a strict egg free diet as ingredients
are unknown. This is particularly important if they are sold
Egg in some gravy Egg in batter
granules
loose, as they may have been contaminated with egg by
cross contamination from other products sold alongside Egg in breadcrumbs
them that do contain egg.
Hollandaise sauce
Unexpected manufactured products likely to contain
Egg custard
egg include: Lemon curd, some marshmallows, some con-
Pancakes and Yorkshire
fectionery, processed meats, some sausages, processed
pudding – some
ﬁ sh and chicken products, Quorn products, royal icing, ice
patients who can eat
cream, Chocolate bars (e.g. Mars Bar, Snickers, Wagon
well cooked egg can
tolerate these but it
Wheels), custard tarts, pastry/bakery items glazed with egg.
depends on how well
cooked they are and
Non-food items containing egg if they contain any
These can be identiﬁ ed by reading the ingredients label.
‘sticky’ batter inside
18 NHDmag.com July ‘08 - issue 36
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