I really wish I wasn’t writing this post right now. The information I am about to share with you will likely make you pretty angry and it should. Do you consume any of these brands in the picture below (Silk, Starbucks, So Delicious, Horizon, Zico, Blue Diamond, Pacific, Carnation and Tempt)? My guess is that you probably do.
A few days ago, the Cornucopia Institute released a Video by it’s co-founder and Senior Farm Analyst, Mark Kastel and a full PDF Report that shares some very startling practices between the USDA and the NOSA “National Organic Standards Board”- the agency that regulates organic food. This report explains the details behind several allegations of corporate corruption that has allowed several agribusinesses to use chemicals in organic products without sufficient regulatory oversight.
A Carcinogen Hiding In Organic Dairy & Dairy Substitutes
One of the findings has to do with a carcinogenic ingredient all these products have in common, a substance derived from red algae called carrageenan. Carrageenan can be found in most milk substitute products, infant formula, deli meats, cottage cheese and some flavored coconut waters regardless if the product is certified organic by the USDA. I know so many people who get soy lattes from Starbucks to avoid having to consume conventional milk products, so I thought it would be pertinent to include them here on the list below, since they and many other coffee shops use soy milk that contains carrageenan.
I’ve had my doubts about carrageenan for a long time – it started in 2011 when my cousin from Ohio sent me a Facebook message asking about whether or not it was ok to feed store bought almond milk that contained this additive to her toddler aged son. Since I didn’t have all the facts, I erred on the side of caution and suggested she make her own almond milk from scratch only.
Now, there are sound reasons and a plethora of studies that the Cornucopia Institute has summarized that has made all my hunches come true. Their report detailed out several specific studies that showed that food safe and approved “undegraded” carrageenan is containaminated with the non-approved degraded carrageenan. Furthermore, when you ingest the undegraded version, it actually starts to degrade in the gastrointestinal tract and in the liver and turn into a carcinogen, resulting in a serious inflammatory agent that also can cause intestinal abnormalities. Because of this reason and other studies conducted the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer and the National Research Council of the United States both have determined that carrageenan is a carcinogen – a substance that causes cancer.
How In The World Can A Carcinogen Be Allowed Into Organic Food?
This is where the Cornucopia Institute does a extraordinary job showing you the timeline of events, lack of regulation, and down right shadiness that all led up to carrageenan’s approval. They show you the series of situations where companies that profit from these ingredients were some of the only reviewers involved in the decision. It’s easy to understand how this can happen, now that organic food companies are being bought by major conventional food companies left and right. Below is a chart taken from the Cornucopia website that shows the relationship big food now has on several smaller organic companies. Please note – This was taken in 2009 and is even worse now, for instance Kraft has since bought Cadbury and so on.
Every time I mention a particular ingredient and it’s harm, I come across opponents to my line of arguments, saying that I am being alarmist or using scare tactics. They love to point out that it’s “food grade” or is safe in “low doses.” Looking at the findings and report on carrageenan, you can see these arguments can be seriously flawed. It reminds me of the times where I discussed the ingredient proplyene glycol in Panera Bread’s salad dressings and TBHQ in Chick-fil-A’s sandwiches. Just like the NOSB has accomplished with the USDA, the FDA also has continuously approved countless chemicals to be added to our food in a low doses. Does anyone really know what the cumulative effect of these additives is over time? Our soil is already depleted of several vitamins and minerals and the nutrition content of our food is declining every single year. How can we afford to put these chemicals in our body? Should we let the FDA tell us what percentage is safe? Or should we use our common sense and decide as a collective group not to consume these additives and chemicals?
I don’t know about you but I feel personally duped by carrageenan. I assumed that once a product was certified organic like Pacific Almond Milk, that it was perfectly safe to drink. I’ve even recommended this product and some others that contained carrageenan here on this site. I’ve since cleaned up my ingredient lists on my recipes and made sure my pantry staples list does not contain any products with this additive in it. We are all learning here together and I hope you forgive me for ever assuming this substance was safe to consume, because it is clearly not.
What You Can Do Instead
Milk substitutes are wildly popular and something many people consume almost everyday, so it’s important that if you were relying on one of these products above to start making your own milk or find another substitute. It’s so easy to make your own.
Check out my books The Food Babe Way and Food Babe Kitchen for nut milk recipes and strategies you can use to break free from the toxins in your food! My recipe for cashew milk takes 1 min and super easy to make!
Even though Cornucopia estimates they are close to 300 chemical additives approved to be used in organics, there are still thousands approved for conventional products. The facts presented here should not discourage you to eat less organic food, but to encourage you to fight for its regulations and ultimate safeguard. I urge you to watch the Video by Mark Kastel and read the Full Cornucopia Report when you have time and to spread this information to as many people as possible – Please feel free to share this post on Facebook, Twitter and your own blogs.
In The Best of Health Always,
Food Babe
P.S. Check out Cornucopia’s new shopping guide to find out which products do and do not contain carrageenan (Tree of Life, 365 Brand Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s (cold section) are a few).
8/19/2014 Update: In response to this blog post and your activism, Whitewave committed to remove carrageenan in 2015, but has not been completed yet.
so discouraged…I feel like I’ve been poisoning my young kids since birth! We try to do everything organic, we don’t eat fast foods (although we do “treat”-that sounds like a RIDICULOUS word to use for what I’m about to say… ourselves to trendy burger joints like FIVE GUYS once in a while)…but every once in a while we realize we’ve been duped! by one of these “big name/no shame” companies making money off of our vulnerabilities and our desperation to keep our families & especially our children healthy! I think of my friends who are dealing with cancer, especially those with childhood cancer & I just want to curl up & cry or scream!!!! …but instead, I will take all of that energy & educate myself & my friends/family further & strive to make better choices every day! Thank you for keeping us informed, for all that you do, for caring about all of this! #proactive not #reactive… my goal.
I’m wondering what markets like “Whole Foods” that people like us count on for wholesome products does about carrying products like these on their shelves. Probably naive of me to think so, can such a place exist that holds their products to such a high standard that they would refuse to carry any of these dishonest products on their shelves? …ahhh to walk into a place of such integrity would be a real piece of heaven on earth! Maybe you should open a chain of markets like these @FoodBabe? 🙂
The answer is to start growing your own food… and when you do, weep and cry over the lead all over in our soil from leaded gas and the chemicals in our water from fracking. There is no safe place. Just be at peace that you work hard to stay informed as best you can and educate others. Grocery stores are not your own option. Your back yard is the best place to find food. The next best place is the Farmers Market.
Well said, Claudia! And I would be an avid shopper at FoodBabe Groceries!
fabulous idea. FoodBabe, thank you for helping us all…from the bottom, top and middle of my heart. YOU are fabulous and making a huge difference in the lives of thousands.
Yikes! I thought that carageenan was from a seaweed (sea vegetable -sounds so healthy)
Now I have a laundry list to avoid when shopping:
no artificial colors/flavors/preservatives/sulphites/, hexane, gmo foods, fried items, excessively sugared and salted foods, milk fat (due to health restrictions), fish, meats, expired foods, (trying to go vegan – already a life long lacto ovo vegetarian and no fish) , some foods I can’t eat due to allergies, etc etc etc
.
Oh, how can I forget brown rice and brown rice syrup – that has been found to contain arsenic…double yikes.
This was only as of late, not in the past, or forever in the future. As in, it was a bad harvest. They have addressed the issue and before the next crop is harvested, they will certainly be testing for any harmful chemicals before its distribution.
Thank you for all your hard work and for sharing important informations that consumers should know. I’ve learned so much from your blog and is very thankful for your passion!
Thank You Claudia I feel the exact same…I am so hurt e try everything to make sure we eat healthy like paying the high prices at whole paycheck as we call it. We felt safe shopping there and we can’t even trust them completely. We just came from shopping there yesterday and we were so discouraged because we were just finding out that most of there product’s contain GMO’S and so when were were at the meat counter to but chicken …even though it said Mary’s Organic, well they feed them corn and the corn is GMO! and them the Basmati Rice by 365 well that has a high level of arsenic and then of course we had to return the peanut butter cause great earth was on the recall list! and now I have to go back and return the Blue Diamond Almond Milk, 365 Soy Milk, and Horizon boxed Strawberry Milk because of carrageenan!! this is so sad!! I, just like all of you, want a place we can trust to buy food that is safe! I thought that was the reason for going to Whole (paycheck) Food’s and buying Organic! was to know we were eating healthy and safe!! Let’s Open FoodBabe!! 🙂 thank you for all your doing! to raise awareness!!
Arsenic levels can vary greatly from sample to sample, even within the same product. FDA’s testing of the initial samples found these average levels of inorganic arsenic in micrograms (one millionth of a gram):
Rice (other than Basmati rice): 6.7 per 1 cup (cooked)
Rice cakes: 5.4 per 2 cakes
Rice beverages: 3.8 per 240 ml (some samples not tested for inorganic arsenic)
Rice cereals: 3.5 per 1 cup
Basmati rice: 3.5 per 1 cup cooked
From the FDA’s own website.
I use Basmati rice grown in the Indian Himalayas exclusively because I simply like the taste of all the rices. Three and a half millionths of a gram seems about right for a lot of foods grown in the soil naturally. How long has the human race been tolerating this in their food supply? I for one will keep on keeping on.
HKC
I am bummed because So Delicious Coconut Milk has become a staple for us, but to be honest I’m not surprised. There really is no such thing as safe or healthy prepared food, it truly doesn’t exist! For example, for those of you who shop at Whole Foods, and buy their prepared foods from the deli or salad bar, take the time to read the ingredient list and notice that “canola oil” is in pretty much in everything they sell! Well canola oil (and vegetable oils in general), because they’re hydrogenated, are just as bad as a chemical additive because they interfere with brain development and function among many other things. Most people know to avoid hydrogenated oils and trans fats, but they don’t realize that even at Whole Foods there are a scant few things you can eat in the prepared foods section (gets even worse if you have a gluten or milk sensitivity). The safest place to shop at Whole Foods, just like a conventional supermarket, is the perimeter, your bulk ingredients. So really the lesson is that we need to make our food from scratch. It’s such a hard lesson to learn 000which is why I find that I KEEP having to learn it because as new products come on the market that seem good like those above, you get sucked into wanting to make life a little bit easier. Which is why, at the end of the day, I have to remind myself not to attempt ambitious recipes because if you truly want to be healthy and are making sooooo much from scratch you have to keep it simple.
Hydrogenated oils harden like Crisco. If you do this to an oil it firms up a lot like lard. Canola oil in it’s oil form is not hydrogenated. I shop at wal-mart for almost nothing but I do shop there to buy Hellman’s mayonnaise made using canola oil instead of soybean oil. One needs to read the label. Some manufacturers partially hydrogenate their oils to a degree that you can’t tell by looking.
I’m wondering at this point if many are simply lying on their food label ingredients list. What is to stop them from this?
After all just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean that someone isn’t really out to get me!
HKC
HKC
take a look at what a “canola” is. ever heard of a “canola”? I am sure you will be shocked, try monsanto site ..
“Canola” can contain up to 4% partially hydrogenated trans fatty acids, depending on the vagaries of the chemical processing used. Any kind of canola oil is a heavily processed industrial product — it’s really just chemically processed mustard seed oil dolled up with a fancy marketing name: “Canola” oil was a word invented to market a product derived from what is basically a weed and never formerly thought fit for human consumption. It should be seen for what it is, a novel industrial chemical. Nowhere is this a traditional foodstuff — in India, unrefined mustard seed oil has been used as a traditional cooking oil, but that’s an entirely different product.
Unfortunately you cannot trust the food out here no matter what the label says. Spending a lot more money at whole foods to get healthier food, and finding out it is not as healthy as assumed is deception at it’s best. We can only continue to read labels, check out the ingredients and make wise decisions on purchasing it if questionable. Sad how things have come to be.
The first time I saw Canola Oil at the store, I just stared at it. My husband said ‘let’s try it’ and I said, ‘Just as soon as you tell me what a canola is’. I never heard of a canola, never saw a tree or a plant at the nursery, and never could find seeds to grow canolas. That was before I ever knew about GMOs, and all the hundreds of other things that I’m aware of now, that’s in our food. I do my best to be selective, and I grow my own fruit and vegetables, but I am poor. We live so simply, that it isn’t even a matter of doing without something to afford organic, non-processed foods. I do the best I can, but my hope is that the more people are aware, the tide and the trend will turn and that in my lifetime, organic will not be the exception; but the rule.
I’ve been fighting an auto immune disease for five years now – it almost killed me. I rely on the honesty and integrity of the organic label to try to live the rest of my life as best I can. This is so discouraging. I might as well grab a Big Mac and diet soda today. Sometimes a person doesn’t feel well or have the time to prepare from scratch. It is overwhelming. Thanks, for the info Food Babe. I will pass it along to others. And I won’t give up trying to eat healthy!
I am so disappointed to find out how many of the foods I have switched to in an effort to respect my body are not good for me either! The only comfort I have is in what bad things are NOT going into my body, even if I can’t avoid all things evil. It’s so difficult to find the money and time to make your own from scratch, and even then, what is in the ingredients you are making them from. I read another comment about rice. Are you kidding me? If I get organic brown rice, am I still screwed? Arrggghhh!!!!
It is getting harder and harder to find products that do not cause some kind of negative effect to our bodies. You really have to read the labels, and if you are like me you need your lighted magnifying glass when at the store because the words on the labels keep getting smaller. So I pull out my lighted magnifier and still get to read them. The size of the lettering will not sucker me into buying something that I do not want. Thanks foodbabe for this extra info about almond milk and other types. Do you have a hemp milk recipe that you would like to share with us? I would like to try hemp milk.
I would be interested in a hemp milk recipe or any brands that are safe. Silk Almond and Soy milk are staples in my house and while I would love to make my own almond milk, there will definitely be times where I won’t have the opportunity and would love to know if there are any good brands out there.
I’ve been buying Hemp Bliss for my son as diary seems to upset his belly. It doesn’t mention anything about carrageenan. Oh….and sadly I just read an article about how they have to pasteurize almonds now and to do so they spray them with some toxic substance. Sad, sad world 🙁
Silk almond milk doesn’t list carrageenan as an ingredient.
I make my own nut milk–very easy, tasty and nutritious. I soak a handful of almonds over night and blanch them in the morning. I also soak 2 organic medjool dates (save the water you soak them in!) Then I blend them very well, close to a minute. I also add Maharishi Ayurvedic Coffee (made form herbs and is an excellent anti-oxident). I start out with about 1 cup of water (and the date water) and then add more to thin it. Yum yum! It tastes like melted coffee ice cream!
It’s also yummy with soaked apricots instead of dates.
I gave this to my mom, who had Alzheimer’s, instead of buying the thick nutrition drinks like Ensure. I used coconut water, instead of spring water and I added walnuts to make it more caloric, and sometimes I added over cooked rice if her bowels were loose. She loved it.
Awe – I love hearing how you took care of your mom…sending blessings your way.
I see the Silk brand SOY Milk…what about Silk brand Almond Milk…the label doesn’t show this “ingredient”.
For a number of years I have been getting itchy painful blisters on my fingers which kept getting worse (covering even my palms) as time went on. Doctors said it was contact dermatitis, but I didn’t believe that. A couple months ago I was doing some research online and found photos of hands that looked just like mine when they had blisters! One of the people commenting under the linked article mentioned carrageenan as a possible culprit. I immediately started checking the food in my refrigerator. First to be eliminated was the delicious almond milk 🙁 Then I avoided buying or consuming anything with carrageenan in it. Miracle of miracles–the blisters ended. I have been symptom free for months.
When I told my doctor, he didn’t seem the least interested in my finding. I thought he could use the info to help anyone else with similar symptoms. No such luck. I need a new doctor.
Would you be willing to tell me more about the blisters? It sounds like what my son has. His derm told him it was moloscum (I think the spelling is right).
We only drink “alternative” milks. I never heard about this before,
Thank you!!
I did a web search on moloscum. The images shown are different from what I used to get. My blisters were in a cluster and eventually kept spreading until they broke and then peeled. They never spread to any other part of my body, nor did anyone else around me get them.
It only affected one hand. It originally started on one finger, but every time I broke out it kept getting worse. I believe that was caused by my consuming more products with carrageenan in it.
Since I last wrote in January, I still have had no further outbreaks. The only thing I changed was to eliminate carrageenan. I do get a weird tingling sensation on my finger tips when I accidentally eat something (like at a party) that has carrageenan in it.
I’ve tried everything, even recommend to others. So what I will do is continue to bless my food before before I eat,
Hi!Thank you for the great information.Can you please tell me what kind of milk can I feed my 18 months old?I am very confused and feel terrible to find out that everything i thought is healthy,is full of dangerous ingredients:(
I’ve recently invested more of my time into researching the almond milk I buy. I thought Silk was a carrageenan free product. It is not listed under the ingredients. Could you clarify that?
I had my doubts about carageenan. Thank you for clearing this up.
I’ve been trying to avoid it in food products, but just found that it is in the fluoride free Tom’s of Maine toothpaste (cinnamint – not sure about the others). Really, Tom’s? You couldn’t have left that out? Guess it’s time to start searching for another toothpaste that tastes good and is good for you.
Try Spry brand. It comes in a non-fluoridated formula & contains xylitol.
I contacted Tom’s and they told me that carrageenan was safe.
Bah. It’s not safe for me.
I just looked at our Silk almond milk and didn’t find that in ours?!?!?!
Would it be on the label????
Do you think that goat milk is safe to drink?Are there any dangerous ingredients or hormones to worry about?I start giving it to my kids and was wondering if it’s ok.Can’t find any organic brand though..
Thank you!
Sorry to bother you again,but do you use organic almond to make your milk?Thank you
My 2 year old daughter is allergic to dairy, peanut, soy, and eggs, but she can tolerate coconut. I am SO angered and disappointed to hear that the only milk we give her (SO Delicious Coconut Milk) is potentially unsafe. She drinks it multiple times a day. I can’t practically make coconut milk at home and we don’t use almond milk b/c of the possibility of cross-contamination with peanuts. I checked your pantry staples list but don’t see anything I think would be a good substitute for her to supply the calcium and vitamin D she needs. Any suggestions for us?
I just recently read a few articles about this. I am pretty upset. My husband does not eat dairy and we heavily rely on non-dairy alternatives. We buy organic and natural products. Hopefully we can depend on the brands we trust to remove this additive from their products. We can’t really depend on the FDA to determine that it is unsafe for human consumption, but we can bring pressure to bear on the companies that use it. Write them letters. LOTS OF THEM!
Hi! I’m not sure if I’m missing something, but I just checked the almond milk in my fridge (Silk unsweetened original almond milk) and I don’t see carrageenan listed as an ingredient. I also checked the cottage cheese (Clover Stornetta Farms) and I do see carrageenan listed as a stabilizer. Am I missing something?
“It’s” = it is
good grammar leads to a more credible expose
dm
Wow. I am truly shocked at some of the things I’ve read that some of you have posted. There are so many contradictions and falsities that it is almost comical. “Treat” themselves to Five Guys, like there is nothing unhealthy there. Also. Any time you cook anything in a hot skillet or on a grill and you get any sort of grill marks that is also a carcinogen. But overall I enjoy reading things like this because it makes for a good laugh.
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Recently we found out my daughter, she is 20, is lactose intolerant and possibly has a dairy allergy. It has been a few months of frustrating, her not even wanting to eat, losing 20 lbs, finally back to feeling good in her own skin! So now that we read labels religiously I was upset that she woke up the other day with a bad stomach ache. I asked her what she had eaten the previous day, made a list, then went to the kitchen to read ingredients. The only thing different was the SO soy ice cream her dad had bought for her. Guess what, it had carrageenan in it! Here her gut is finally starting to heal, and this substance messes with it. So unfortunately no SO soy ice cream. By the next day she was fine, but add that to the list of bad things we have to check for now.
So sorry Laura for what your family is going through. Your daughter is lucky to have you!
Thank you Food Babe 😉 Greatly appreciated!
Question: Food Babe……what’s your thoughts on Rice Dream Rice Milk?
(No carageenan)
Hi Juanita-it contains safflower and/or canola oil which you should try and stay away from as much as possible. It is organic and no carageenan which is good. I would use in moderation – don’t make it your everyday milk.
Just wanted to share a little info..
Silk offers sweetened & unsweetened almond milk free of carrageenan. It’s also NonGMO verified, for what it’s worth. It tastes better to me than other varieties
However, some of their other products do contain carrageen, so make sure you read the labels.
For cottage cheese, I buy Breakstone’s 4% & it is also free of the “killer c” 🙂
Happy eating
I found this website, http://www.cornucopia.org/shopping-guide-to-avoiding-organic-foods-with-carrageenan/
After my thyroidectomy and while I was awaiting radioactive iodine (all of which was due to thyroid cancer), I was given a list of unacceptable ingredients while I was depriving my body of iodine to await treatment. Caraggeenan was on the list and I was shocked to find it in SO many foods/beverages. Now that I’m aware of what it’s in, and recognize it’s potentially harmful effects, I know what to avoid. Thanks, Food Babe, for continuing to bring these issues to light so that my family and I can eat healthier!
Given tomorrow’s many marches against Monsanto, this is something we should all get behind:
Please sign my friend’s petition against carrageenan!
https://www.change.org/petitions/the-united-states-air-force-usaf-stop-the-use-of-all-gmo-and-carrageenan-based-ingredients-in-chemtrails#
Question: Is there a dairy free sour cream/cream cheese that does not have the nasty C in it? Daughter who is lactose intolerant is dying for cheesecake, but since she is already sensitive to C don’t want to chance it.
Thanks,
I think most of them have it. I would try a vegan recipe that doesn’t use cheese at all. I have not tried these but you could start here. There are so many recipes on-line. Good luck and please let us know if you try one and how it turns out! http://www.veganbaking.net/component/jreviews/recipes/vegan-cheesecake-recipes_c244/#.UdGNrfm1GSp
Response from soy delicious
Thank you for sharing your concern with us, Lauren. We are committed to using the highest quality ingredients and offering products that are delicious and respectful of our consumers and the planet. For the past year, we have been working very hard on reformulating our coconut milk beverage line to remove carrageenan. Although the National Organic Standards Board approved its continued use in organic foods, our fans still voiced concerns over the ingredient. So our team decided to proactively look for alternate solutions. It isn’t always easy work to recreate recipes. We want to select top quality ingredients and deliver delicious dairy-free options to kitchen tables across the country. We are very pleased with our progress and recently started sampling our new carrageenan-free recipes with consumers, retailers, and food reporters to get their feedback on our improved coconut milk beverages. We are working on new packaging now and are aiming to have our new products in stores by the end of 2013. In the meantime, many of our products do not contain carrageenan—including our Greek Style cultured coconut milk and almond milk products, and our almond milk frozen pints and novelties.
Typo… So delicious
I just returned 6 milks to whole foods..different brands and 1 flax milk because of this ingredient! Whole foods 365 brand does NOT have Carrageenan in it as far as I read.
Good for you! Call the companies too and ask them to please take it out…
From So Delicious Dairy Free’s site!
http://sodeliciousdairyfree.com/ingredient-facts
CARRAGEENAN
Some of our products contain carrageenan, a thickening agent that is extracted from seaweed. All of the carrageenan we use is undegraded or nondegraded which has been proven to not cause any adverse health effects.
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I have been avoiding carrageenan since 2008. That is the year I found out my son had Crohn’s disease. In my reading I learned that in order to study Crohn’s, aka IBD, researchers give carrageenan to guinea pigs and the piggies get IBD…great for research, not great for the piggies. Even though humans are exposed to lower levels of carrageenan, this info made me avoid anything containing it.
It’s in a lot of organic pet food too. I searched HIGH AND LOW for wet cat food that doesn’t have carrageenan in it and it was almost impossible to find at the store. I finally found Party Animal food that I order online and I’m super happy about it. My cat has lots of issues with throwing up and indigestion and I’m now realizing that it’s most likely due to overvaccination and I’m wondering if carrageenan has something to do with it. Our pets are suffering too, more than us sometimes probably since their bodies are so small.
I am SO upset. My son who can’t live without his chocolate milk, has been drinking the Horizon Organic chocolate milk for years. I try so hard to make sure everything he consumes is Organic in nature. I am so angry that this carcinogen is allowed into our wonderful Organic options.
Hi Cris – I am so sorry! It is so sad but no regrets – just move forward. You did not know. But please contact Horizon and tell them how you feel about it!
Great article! We need more and more people to spread the word about carrageenan. I have a post about it on my blog as well (http://kairosclinic.net/2013/05/10/you-may-be-digesting-this-deadly-ingredient-right-now-and-not-even-know-it/) Please check it out when you have time. Would love your feedback. Keep up the great work!
I read your post – great job!
Do you use raw organic almonds to make your milk? I read yesterday that regular raw almonds in the US are treated with PPO (a nasty chemical) in many instances. I am excited to try to make my own at home! I just hope my local store carries organic almonds. Can I find them online?
Yes try and find raw & organic – sometimes hard to find. You can order on-line.
Here is a question for you all. We have found great lactose free yogurt with out carrageenan, Green Vally Organics, and daughter is doing much better, but here is the dilema. It is easier to go out to eat and ask for menu items with out dairy, but when you ask about carrageenan, they have no clue what you are talking about. Daughter thought she had found a treat to eat when she went with friends to yogurtland and they had sorbet. She got some, bad night 🙁 found out next day it had the nasty C in it. I have since written them, no answer yet. I am just afraid it is in a lot of sauces and pre made items at restaurants. We don’t eat out much, but it would be nice to have a few places that were OK to do so. She thinks she has a worse reaction to the C than she ever did to lactose. Wonders if they are connected! Who knows, since it is in a lot of dairy products! Why oh why do they add this nasty stuff to our food, oh wait it is the almighty dollar! I think I will get an ice cream maker and just make my own sorbet!
Hi Laura – so sorry for what you are dealing with. Don’t give up – keep contacting companies and asking them to take it out! Good luck!
You could buy Pacific Organic Oat Milk which is one of the few non dairy beverages that does not contain carrageenan.
I just looked on my Silk PureAlmond milk and it wasn’t on it? Can you please confirm…
I knew that I had read this information here! Since then, I’ve been making my own milks and sticking to 2 store bought varieties that don’t have carrageenan. I was on the phone with a customer service rep from The Green Polka Dot Box about my order last week. I figured since I was already talking to him, I’d ask if they had any other non-dairy milks that don’t include this additive that I might’ve missed or if they can get any for me. He said that he wasn’t sure that this substance was an issue, asked where I had gotten my info, said he had heard of Food Babe and would check with their nutritionist. Being polite, I said ok. He called me back a few hours later to tell me that the only problem with carrageenan is that when heated, it can cause intestinal discomfort. Otherwise, he claimed, I shouldn’t be concerned about it and it definitely wasn’t a carcinogen.
Not cool, Green Polka Dot Box… not cool.
Thanks for all that you do Food Babe, but have a comment about my personal struggle with this poison carrageenan. It took me 5+ years of continuous research to finally discover what was destroying my health. The reason it has taken so long was because of the misdiagnoses of my former M.D. He told me I had Hashimoto’s Thyroidoisis, complicated by a gluten sensitivity. So eliminated gluten and symptoms were still persisting and getting worse. First symptom (chronic cough with over abundance of mucus), Second symptom (extreme weakness (both arms) and chronic numbness in both hands), third symptom (projectile vomiting after ingesting poison) My ah-ha moment came when I found someone who got sick from rotisserie chicken, which had happened to me. After eliminating it from my diet, my symptoms are starting to improve but the numbness is persisting. I suspect it has caused nerve damage, so it may take longer to recover. As consumers we have the power and we must become diligent because we are responsible for our health. Our government is not protecting us and this is why we have the most expensive health care system but we are overall a very sick society.
Hi RaeMarie – thanks for sharing your story. So sorry for what you have been going through. Hope you recover quickly!
Hi Vani! I just wanted to say that the last carton of Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk was GMO project approved and did not have carrageenan in it. I was very surprised so I read the ingredient list 3 more times to be sure haha. What do you know about that?
Thanks!
Morgan
I have noticed that it is not in the brands of almond milk I have seen at the store. Maybe they stopped using it? But, I have yet to find a soy milk or coconut beverage that does not have it
I think they still use it in Blue Diamond. The last time I went to whole foods they had that ingredient in all of the milks
Just bought a Blue Diamond Unsweetened Original Almond Milk today and it is listed in the ingredients ( along with natural flavors)
Just have to KEEP reading. Usually if the product (i.e. Almond milk) is sweetened or flavored, there IS Carrageenan in it.
People, this is serious stuff, I got VERY sick in March, still recovering. I had NO idea what was wrong with me until I read a post from Food Babe on Face Book. I have been on a trial and error diet every since, but eliminated everything with Carrageenan in it and that was after I had lost 25+ pounds from three solid weeks of clinical diarrhea, and vomiting.
I have an occasional cup of Organic coffee and here is a tip for those wanting a coffee creamer to substitute for ALL of the other kinds on the market….ALL with Carrageenan in them. Canned Organic Coconut milk truly tastes yummy and mixes in VERY well. I add liquid stevia, Organic & Alcohol free.
Check out the Cornucopia Institute’s Website for all of the brands and items that contain this TOXIC substance.
God Bless, Lynn