| Those who are allergic to soy must exclude all soy from their diets. |
| This can be a challenge. Soy lurks in nearly everything these days even in products where we would not reasonably expect it. It’s in Bumblebee canned tuna, Chef Boyardee Ravioli, Hershey’s chocolate, most of Baskin Robbins 31 flavors, some of Pizza Hut’s pizza, most bread, muffins, donuts, lemonade mixes, hot chocolate, some baby foods, and tens of thousands of other popular products. |
| If you absolutely must keep soy out of your life or that of your children, memorize the following: |
| | | Soy goes by many aliases. |
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| | Food processors are less likely to list the three letter word "soy" than a technical term such as "textured vegetable protein" (TVP), "textured plant protein", "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" (HVP), "vegetable oil" or "MSG" (monosodium glutamate). Ingredient lists also include words such as "lecithin", "vegetable oil", "vegetable broth", "boullion", "natural flavor" or "mono-diglyceride" that do not necessarily come from soy, but are likely to. |
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| | | Food labels and ingredient lists change. |
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| | Check them every single time. Manufacturers can switch the ingredients used in food products without warning. Allergic consumers need to check the labels every time they make a purchase and ask about ingredients every time they eat at a restaurant or purchase food at a deli. To make things easier, many allergic people carry cards listing foods on their "no" lists. |
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| | | Products may be mislabeled or contain undeclared soy. |
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| | The only solution here is to hope, pray, and make your own food from scratch using known ingredients. |
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| | | Cross contamination occurs. |
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| | Improperly cleaned pans, plates, utensils, cutting boards at restaurant or delis, bins at a health food stores, or vats at the factory can contaminate food with traces of soy.. All it takes is a bit of old soy oil or soy protein residue to trigger severe reactions in people who are highly susceptible. |
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| | | Soy may be in the package as well as its contents. |
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| | Soy protein isolate used in the manufacture of paperboard boxes can flake off and migrate into food In the future, some foods may be shrink wrapped in an edible soy-based plastic. |
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| | | Soy can be breathed as well as eaten. |
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| | Expect soy dust in some bakeries, shipyards, and the bulk bin aisle of your health food stores. |
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| | | Soy may be in your pills. |
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| | Vitamins, over-the-counter drugs and prescriptions may contain an unwanted dose of soy. Beware of pills with soy oil bases, Vitamin E derived from soy oil, and soy components such as isoflavones The inhaler Atrovent is just one of many drug-store products containing unexpected soy. |
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| | | Soy is the latest thing in just about everything. |
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| | Soy inks, paints, plastics, carpets, mattresses, cars, etc. are just a few of the industrial products that may be green for the environment but deadly for highly allergic persons. |
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| | Finally, someone who is exquisitely sensitive to soy could die from contact with the lips of someone who has just eaten soy. Unlikely as this might seem, it has happened with peanuts, soy's even more allergenic relative. |
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| For more information, and a complete list of sources and references, please read The Whole Soy Story. |
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