>I will take note and inform the family that we can't really trust
>these labels yet.

Trust? Perhaps. But verify.

The labels are helpful. If a label says "contains milk," that's very
helpful. If the label says "contains egg," but does not say it
contains milk, it's an indication that it's more likely to be safe.
That's helpful, too. Depending on how sensitive the allergic person
is, seeing a warning label that does not include milk, and seeing no
milk ingredients, makes doing an oral challenge safer.

For a *very* allergic person, it's always best to contact the
manufacturer to determine whether there are any dairy ingredients. Of
course, be prepared for the answer "we can't guarantee that it's 100%
dairy free..." - I suspect lawyers have instructed some companies not
to be too unequivocal.

>About kosher foods - I'm not Jewish, and don't know anyone Jewish here locally
>to ask.  But I was trying to find a place to buy kosher deli meats
>and such here
>in Portland, Oregon - but I was unable to find them! I know there has to be a
>way. Any suggestions, anyone, on how to look?

With a city of that size, there has to be at least one Orthodox or
Conservative Jewish congregation. Call them an ask where the locals
buy their Kosher foods. Google might be able to help, too.

>I get so frustrated with meats listing "lactose" so often - my local store
>sometimes carries hotdogs that are labelled as kosher (Hebrew National), but I
>just can't find deli meats for sandwiches (can't remember the last time I had
>one, in fact). ugh!

That can be very difficult. But there are many lunch meats that have
no dairy. Our local deli lets us read the labels. For most meats, the
only thing we find that *might* be derived from dairy is the caramel
coloring. Neither my hair-trigger milk allergic son nor I have any
trouble with these meats (your mileage may vary).

The one thing we do have to do is make sure they clean the cutter -
*very* clean. And, thank goodness, when they see us coming, the get a
clean bucket of water and a clean cloth and do a thorough cleaning,
just for us (isn't that great?). Of course, it would be better to
have the meat pre-cut at the plant, or to have a kosher deli that
does not cut meat on a cutter that has seen cheese, but we've learned
we can tolerate that low level of potential contamination (with
occasional itchiness).

G'Luck,

Mark