Hi Rene,
I may be able to offer some insight into that. I just finished reading
an other wise wonderful book by Kary Mullis, the 1993 winner of the Nobel
Prize for biochemistry. In one chapter, entitled "The Age of Nutritional
Obsession" he states:
"The human digestive system transforms everything we eat, including
cholesterol, into unrecognizable bits of matter before turning it into us."
Later, in the same paragraph, he says: "Only these little pieces of
universal matter are allowed into our bloodstream."

That statement reflects much of the medical profession's perspective on
food allergies.... they are usually not real. When a Nobel Prize winner in
biochemistry is saying things like this, you can be sure that many folks
are listening. They may not say it out loud to parents and patients, but
the attitude often effects how folks, right down to the kitchen, percieve
requests for dietary vigilance. If they really believed it could be a life
or death matter, most folks would bend over backwards to accomodate such
requests.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of "experts" out there who haven't looked
into the matter of dietary sensitivities very closely, but they nonetheless
seem to believe that their expertise extends to that area.

Just one man's opinion.
best wishes,
Ron

At Sat, 26 Aug 2000 22:55:54 GMT you wrote:
>Has anyone else had a similar experience?  Our one-year-old was in the
>hospital this week for several days.  At check in and repeatedly (when each
>meal was brought in) we expressed that our daughter has a severe milk
>allergy and that she cannot have any food that has dairy, including
>margarine, whipped topping, gravies, etc.  The first night it took three
>trays and two and a half hours to get a dairy free tray.  By check out, they
>were doing better - dairy free except for the chocolate milk shake.   The
>nurses had the kitchen call me twice, but the problem still continued.
>Because we were there and were able to monitor and protect, it's almost
>funny.  But if we had stepped out for a moment at meal time . . .
>
>Thanks,
>
>Rene