For the past week my son has had four reactions. Hives, constant coughing and difficulty catching his breath. We have changed nothing in his diet. After thorough investigation and many phone calls I think I may have found the culprit.
Rice Dream, Soy Dream, Almond Dream, Coconut Dream and Hemp Dream are all made on the same equipment. I called the company and was told they DO NOT use dedicated equipment. They clean it of allergens between batches and do random testing.
For all of you out there that have children with severe allergies to tree nuts, soy, hemp (and possibly coconut) this may be a problem. My son happens to be allergic to all the other milks soy, almond, coconut, and hemp. However, I believe the only thing that would cause a reaction like he had would be a tree nut or dairy.
Let me also say that I always purchase the refrigerated Rice Dream and have never had a problem. These reactions occurred when I purchased the shelf-stable cartons. The company told me that the refrigerated milks go through a different process then the shelf-stable milks. They only produce rice and soy milks in refrigerated cartons.
I am also going to start researching other rice milk companies to see how they handle their processing. I may just have to switch brands. I’ll keep you updated!!!
Jenny G says
THanks. I think you posted something on the kids with food allergies page a few days ago and it got me thinking about it. I emailed the Rice Dream company and they basically said they put on the box what the FDA says ("contains"), and said that rice milk is made in the same environment as other allergens, but that they use high standards of cleaning between batches. Those were not their exact words, but you know what i mean. That being said, we are done with rice dream, i will not take the risk. My son is allergic to milk, peanuts and tree nuts. That being said, for weeks he's had this irritationg on his lower lip. Nothing has worked-tried hydrocortisone, vaseline, etc…ironically two days off rice milk and it is almost gone. Have no idea if its related or not….keep us posted on what you come up with for other rice milk options. I looked at the wegmans brand of rice milk and it seems ok, wegmans is usually good about putting on warnings about same equipment and facility, however i have not called the company yet.
Elizabeth DiBurro says
Hi Jenny, Thanks for posting. My son has 9 allergens two of which are severe (peanut and milk). Therefore I NEVER purchase anythign that states its made in the same facility as those two items. Had Rice Dream been honest on it's label we never would have purchased it…which I'm sure was it's intent. I have a new respect for all the companies out there that do label their foods with info that isn't legally necessary.
Anonymous says
Thanks for posting this. Super helpful.
Elizabeth DiBurro says
You're welcome Anonymous. 🙂
Jenny G says
Any leads on any safe rice milk yet?
Elizabeth DiBurro says
Nothing much. I'm waiting to hear from the other companies. They're not very good about returning emails or phonecalls. 🙁 I did however find a powdered rice milk from Growing Naturals that is safe.
David, Ashley, and Samuel says
hi! my son has been drinking rice dream since he was…way to young to be drinking it.
we have never had a problem. lots of eczema…but as far as we can see there hasn't been a correlation. he is highly allergic to soy, PN, milk, green pea…as well as sesame, wheat, TN.
have you ever tried to make it? i haven't…just know i can't make it taste as good.
what about trader joes? we used to drink tons of that when we lived in a town with the store.
Elizabeth DiBurro says
We have never had a problem up until a couple of weeks ago. I feel more comfortable buying the refrigerated cartons because they go through a different process. However I'm still on the lookout for an alternative. Once Growing Naturals starts distributing their powdered rice milk, we will try that. I'm hoping he likes it because it will much easier to buy a carton of powdered milk and mix it when needed. I haven't attempted to make rice milk. I think that would probably be a lot of work and not as nutritious as the store bought milk. I will look into a Trader Joe's. Thanks for the suggestion.
Elizabeth 🙂
Jenny says
I contacted wegmans about their organic rice milk, which is made in canada, and after 2 weeks, they responded with this:
Yes, Wegmans Organic Rice beverage is made on the same equipment as almonds beverage, but we have a strict allergen control program in place to avoid cross contamination (eg: we always tested CIP rinse water after an allergen production to be sure there is no allergen protein residue in the system).
So what do you think of this? safe or not? I just re-read your article here and are you using the refrigerated cartons? I had been using the shelf stable ones but I'm tempted to get the refrigerated ones. What would you do?? rice dream refrigerated or the wegmans one?? any info would be helpful!I'll check back in a few days! thanks! Jenny
Elizabeth DiBurro says
Hi Jenny,
I have been using the refrigerated cartons because they go through a different process then the shelf stable. They do not make a refrigerated almond milk so for now, this is what we're using. I did find a company 'Growing Naturals' that will be coming out with a rice powdered milk soon. Once this happens, we will switch. Because Ryan is anaphylactic to dairy and nuts I do not feel comfortable trusting any company to clean their equipment enough to not put my son at risk. However I do buy products that have been made on shared equipment with some of his other allergens because they are not severe reactions. I think it comes down to what you're comfortable with. I hope this helps you. I'm glad Wegman's got back to you! thanks for sharing the info!
Anonymous says
Hello Elizabeth, I was just checking out your new Facebook Page and I can not tell you how happy I was to have stumbled upon this post! I have always suspected that there are certain brands of rice milk that my son is not able to drink for some reason, I just haven't been able to figure out exactly why this is! When I began giving my son rice milk, almost two years ago now, I ran into a similar issue as you did, I found that he was reacting to the rice milk with eczema. I literally tried every single brand that Wegmans carries, including Rice Dream, Pacific, Wegmans brand etc. etc. I found that he reacted to all of them in the same way. My doctor suggested he might be allergic to rice, but he was not testing positive for a rice allergy. I was at a loss as to what to give my son to drink for milk, rice milk was our only hope because of his allergies to dairy, soy, nuts and seeds. I was at my local health foods store one day and found Good Karma Foods Organic Whole Grain Rice Milk and my son was able to drink it with no problems. My doctor thought I was crazy when I told her that he was able to drink this brand without developing eczema, but not others such as Rice Dream, but he has been drinking it for almost two years now without any reactions. Every once in a while I will buy Rice Dream when I am out of the Good Karma and sure enough my son develops eczema. I have not checked with Good Karma Foods to see what their processing/equipment practices are. I am able to purchase the milk at my local health foods store, but you can also order online through Amazon.com.
Elizabeth from EasyBreezyLife says
Hi there. I have attempted to contact Good Karma with the email address that they provided so that I could get additional information about their manufacturing process. However, the email address provided did not work. I will attempt to call them tomorrow so that I can get some information. I'm very curious about their products. They not only have rice milk, but flax milk too! I would LOVE to try that!!!
Thank you for the information. I appreciate you sharing it with me. 🙂
Susanna Curtis Cuarto says
There isn't a single "milk" out there that I know of for my son. Rice dream has sunflower in it, so that is the problem there. We've tried hemp and oat and he gets hives, though I don't believe he's allergic to oat (no reaction to cheerios) and I haven't had him tested for hemp. It could be the so-called "Natural Flavors," which is what I suspect.
eblfoodallergies says
Have you tried Rice Milk Powder by Growing Naturals? http://growingnaturals.com/products/rice-drink/
Sa-yuri Mun says
Your product is still not allergen and GMO friendly: it has guar/ acacia gums, has natural flavors in which, do not state from where they come from. Stating that they do not come from gluten or corn doesn’t specifically state it’s origin. And just because something is said to be natural, does mot mean its healthy- example: Just because a snakes venom comes from a natural source doesn’t mean that It is safe to consume.
Nicole says
Just found this article. I'm lactose intolerant and have a suspicion my body doesn't like soy, so i've been drinking rice milk for years with great results (it's the only thing i've tried that finally didn't make me sick). Well in the early days of my alternative milks search, i tried the 'dream' brand products but after a few months they started to make make me sick. i had no idea they made all their different products with the same equipment till i read your article, but now it all makes sense why every time i tried something different in their brand (like almond, or coconut milk) i still had the same bad reactions. I have found that Pacific brand is the only milk for me. i have never gotten sick from it (and they make soy and almond milk too) so i assume they must not use the same machinery, (you'll have to check). just thought i'd share, hope you were able to find something for your son that worked 🙂
Lora says
Hi there, I’m wondering if there is any more information out there about what rice milks are safe these days. I’m an adult who is dangerously allergic to almonds and peanuts (and intolerant to dairy). I used to use Rice Dream unsweetened original all the time until they started making almond milk. I haven’t been able to find a safe rice milk since then, and I don’t have time to make my own on a regular basis.
I just looked up Growing Naturals brown rice powder, but in their FAQ section it says that their manufacturing facility processes things that contain all major allergens (except for fish and shellfish). So they don’t sound any more safe than Rice Dream does 🙁