When you work in a restaurant and someone asks you if your “yogurt shakes, made with ‘ fruit and yogurt’” contain milk, you’d better know the answer. Many people are allergic to milk, but not to yogurt, so there’s a reason they are asking. Reader Jim sends us a letter he wrote to Steak ‘N Shake that has gone unanswered:
On a recent visit to your North Canton Belden store, I noticed you had new yogurt shakes, made with ” fruit and yogurt” Being lactose intolerant ( and as all lactose intolerant people know) frozen yogurt and yogurt is a good alternative to ice cream as it does not contain the harmful lactose present in milk. I made the comment to the waitress that I was allergic to milk and was glad to see the new product. When she brought my shake, I again asked if she was sure it had no milk in it, and she thought a minute, and said it had “this much” milk used to thin the yogurt mix. She indicated almost half the size of the container. If I wouldn’t have asked, I would have been in the hospital by evening. It happened to me before when I had ordered a yogurt shake at a Dairy Queen, and they ran out of yogurt and made it with milk without telling me. I ended up in the emergency room.
Jim continues:
You need to realize that people DO have food allergies. Yogurt advertised as yogurt is safe for people who are lactose intolerant. It is common for people with milk allergies to order yogurt as a safe alternative. You need to either change the way you advertise the shake and make people aware of the milk content, or make it with 100% yogurt as you advertise.
Also, the waitress was mad when I told her to take it back, and was reluctant to talked it off the bill. Than manager was way too busy even to speak with me. I waited 10 minutes to finally pay the bill and left. I will be more than happy to forward you a copy of the sales ticket for that day. The service in general was bad that day, and I highly doubt that we will ever go back.
Jim also points us to a recent CNN article about food allergies. The article concentrates on a new study of allergy deaths:
“We were surprised that so few people had gotten correct information about ingredients in restaurant settings, which accounted for about half of these fatal reactions,” said study author Anne Mu
oz-Furlong, founder and CEO of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, a nonprofit advocacy and education group. “The individuals either did not ask about ingredient information — and assumed the food was safe — or the restaurant staff gave them incorrect or incomplete information.”
Steak ‘N Shake does have accurate allergy information available on its website. Perhaps they should share the importance of this info with their employees. That way Jim can continue reading the Consumerist and avoid spending his free time in the ER. —MEGHANN MARCO
Nutritional Info [Steak 'N Shake]
Food allergies: One bite can be deadly [CNN]
(Photo: slapjack)
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I have to side with BillyShears and most of the other posters on this one. Two things make me think he’s really playing this up. First, if you’re allergic to something and it is serious enough to actually put you in an emergency room, you need to shoulder the burden of making it perfectly clear that you can’t tolerate certain ingredients, and of trying to avoid things that may have that ingredient.
Stating offhand that you’re happy to see a new product because you have an allergy in no way shifts the burden to the waitress. Hell, some allergies are mild, and she’s not a doctor or immunologist, so it’s not her job to interpret his comment.
Second, he doesn’t seem to understand the difference between lactose intolerance and milk allergy. Someone with an actual milk allergy would know the difference, and would know that yogurt was not ok (my brother-in-law is severely allergic to milk proteins, and has known that yogurt is off-limits since he was 6). I’m thinking he is lactose intolerant, and while it’s not pleasant, it is not the same thing. It seems he threw milk allergy into the mix just to heighten his claim. That makes it smell fishy to me.
Bottom line, he should have specifically asked before ordering. Because he didn’t, he got something he couldn’t consume. It’s great that they took it off his bill, but he’s being a total drama queen.
@Buran: I know this because if he had a milk allergy, he’d also have to stay away from yogurt.
4th grade deductive reasoning, ya’ know?
Why is there so much criticism of this Jim guy? He told the waitress he was allergic to milk (of course in the letter he makes it unclear because he uses allergic and intolerate interchangeably), and she gave him something that was half milk. He then asked again, is there milk in this, and then she told him. He didn’t leave it up to someone else to take care of him, he explained the situation nicely, and then double checked.
He certainly didn’t do anything wrong. He said he was allergic, and they gave it to him anyway. That was flat out stupid of them.
@SpecialK: I totally agree with you. As a person who lives with a severe peanut allergy, I know that any food with ‘Thai’ in the title may mean an overnight stay in the ER; I don’t *assume* the safety of the food, I just don’t eat it. If he was actually concerned about his health, he wouldn’t eat fast food.
@BillyShears: You still don’t comprehend the term “generalization”. You still won’t admit that you don’t know the OP’s situation. I don’t care whether God himself wrote that site. IT DOES NOT APPLY TO EVERYONE. “I was wrong”. Three words that you are apparently too proud (or have your head too far up your ass) to type. You obviously can read, but you don’t know when to spout websites as absolute and when not to.
By the way, I work at a medical school, so I know what I’m talking about.
He wrote and complained that a likely 17 year old waitress didn’t pick up on his remark that likely made her think of lactose intolerance. He’s old enough to know that he should watch out for himself, and not depend on part-time staff to do it. This is just like that razor blade in the baby bed non-story.
@BillyShears: The worst the guy actually did wrong was he might have gotten some terminology wrong. SO WHAT? He wound up with a SERIOUS CONDITION because of someone’s mistake, and that is a lot more troublesome than the nit you insist on picking. 4th-grade reasoning, huh? Guess there’s a reason that’s the best you can do.
@BillyShears & @Buran: Um, wow?
If waitstaff are expected to serve as dietary consultants, they ought to be paid accordingly. You want to pay somebody pennies to schlep your food from kitchen to table, you’re on your own.
Ah, sorry for the double(triple?) post, but this just reminded me an appropriate McDonald’s story. After a hockey game, some of the guys went to the Golden Arches to celebrate a win or loss: A woman come storming in with her double cheese burgers with a fire in her eye. She started barking at the teen at the register for a Manager, then started screaming at him for allowing his incompetent workers to put onions on her burgers; for you see, she has an allergy to onions and she could have gotten mighty sick had she eaten them. She demanded the money she paid to be refunded, then asked for the burgers to be remade sans onions. I thought, 1) Stupid for assuming McDonalds would make her order the way she wanted it 2) Stupid for coming to a fast food joint with an allergy to onions 3) Stupid for illustrating the term ‘white trash’ so effectively. Stop being stupid consumers, it’s your job to know the risks of a product before buying; if they’re too great, bring your hard-earned dollar elsewhere.
@Buran: For someone who allegedly works at a medical school, you’re sure giving a lot of elbow room to someone who’s confusing two entirely different conditions.
@s0crates82:
If you can’t eat chicken, don’t go to Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles.
Ooh — tell me more about this magical-sounding place…
I ask this honestly and openly, with respect to the distinction between “milk allergy” and “lactose intolerance”: is there any very SERIOUS reaction that one could have to milk but NOT have to yogurt?
When I worked at a fine dining restaurant, people with special dietary needs would ask me about food ingredients/preparation. IMHO, the really smart ones called ahead. Whether it was a call-ahead situation or walk-ins, I always went straight to the chef. Get the answers right from the horse’s mouth (or the horse’s ass, in that particular case).
That said, if I had special dietary needs, I would hesitate to trust any fast food place if a slip-up meant serious illness or death.
Interesting that there have been over 50 comments on this post. I think more than half of them have been from Billy Shears and Buran.
@Nygdan:
He certainly didn’t do anything wrong. He said he was allergic, and they gave it to him anyway. That was flat out stupid of them.
As a general rule, I hate “blame-the-victim” reasoning, but there’s a point where you have the responsibility to be your own advocate, because you’re the one who’s going to get sick or die. Looking at their website, I am actually very impressed at the detail Steak ‘N Shake goes into regarding nutrition and allergen information – they list the possible allergens for every item on their menu. This goes way beyond anything I’ve seen for most restaurants, and I think they should be commended for it.
Indeed, as others have pointed out, the yogurt shake is in fact called a yogurt MILKshake, and lists milk as an allergen. (Not to mention, don’t all shakes inherently have milk? You need some sort of liquid to make it a shake – otherwise it’s just plain frozen yogurt, right? – and what are you going to use, other than milk?)
If this guy really has a life-threatening allergy, it would really be in his interest to be far more proactive than just making comments about allergies, rather than asking much more pointedly about the contents of the shake, and telling the waitress, look, I could die if I eat milk.
Yes, they do bear the responsibility of training their workers, but at some point, you have to accept the fact that a fast-food waitress is never going to be as vigilant about your allergies as you are.
my boyfriend has a severe peanut allergy. the ‘eat even one bite of peanut and he dies’ sort of allergy. so he has to be really careful when we go out to eat.
if he can’t be 100% sure that the thing he’s ordering doesn’t have peanuts in it: then he DOESN’T order it. he’d rather err on the side of caution than drop dead.
in this case, yeah, sounds like the waitress was an idiot, but come on, do you really want to put your health/life in the hands of a Steak ‘n Shake waitress?
Lactose intolerance is NOT an allergy. Lactose intolerance just means you can’t digest lactose, it doesn’t mean you have an allergic reaction to it (think anaphylactic shock).
If Jim has such a bad allergy that half a glass of milk can send him to the ER, he needs to be a lot less trusting when eating out. Of course, the waitress should have been smarter about it, but you can’t put your life in other people’s hands like that. Even when you order “milk-free” items (i.e. getting soy milk in your Starbucks drink), mistakes are made.
I have a serious peanut allergy, and if I can’t be positive something won’t have peanuts in it, I order a different menu item or eat elsewhere.
A few points:
I am lactose intolerant – yogurt has lactose, less than the same amount of milk does, but if milk can send you to the hospital – then you shouldn’t be eating more than say 6 ounces of yogurt at a time.
My best guess is that Jim, the OP, has either Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or Crohn’s Disease. Both of these can be triggered by too much dairy. I have a friend with Crohn’s though whose treatment includes yogurt, because of the probiotic bacteria it contains helps her cope with the other things that can trigger a flare-up for her. If she has plain milk though, it could trigger a flare which could send her to the hospital. Jim, I urge you to see a gastroenterologist and be properly diagnosed.
Lastly, I want to add that life is not all milk and cookies for the lactose intolerant, not only do I have to check labels carefully for milk based ingredients (not casein based ingredients though such as sodium caseinate – which is based on a milk protein – and therefore only of concern to those allergic to milk and to vegans), but for the addition of straight lactose as a either a sweetener or filler, including in chocolate not sold as “milk chocolate” and in OTC and prescription drugs. I have to say one of the stupidest pharmacological decisions ever made is to use lactose as a filler in some OTC diarrhea medicines, as a bad case of lactose intolerance will send you to the medicine cabinet, only to ingest even more lactose. If you are really lactose intolerant, I’m sure you have found this out the hard way. (Maybe that is how Jim ended up in the hospital?)
Cy’s right – but some of you might not have read the original article very closely.
The complainer claimed to be allergic – but he said it right after he tossed in a seemingly unrelated statement regarding those who are lactose intolerant.
Everyone who said lactose intolerance can’t put you in the hospital is right – but this guy claims he had an allergy to boot.
In addition to what Cy said about sodium caseinate and the stupid decision to put lactose into loads of dietary supplements (dumb!), us intolerants have to watch for whey in every snack food too.
Basically anything that has a buttery or cheesy ingredient is a no-no. In fact, the powdered versions of cheese flavoring are some of the most concentrated lactose ‘hits’ you can take (any Doritos except the unflavored plain ones are full of this ‘cheese flavor powder’). A few Doritos will make you scream “Ole Olestra!” for at least a day (http://www.zug.com/pranks/olestra/).
Snack crackers, all but the most plain potato chips and certain medications are some of the ‘sneaky’ things we have to watch for besides the obvious cream cheese-covered bagel, milkshake and ice cream cones.
The good news is that lactose enzymes are readily available to neutralize all but the most extreme lactose binges (and yes, I take my pizza with TRIPLE cheese with no after effects even though I’m one of the most lactose intolerant around).
One bonus: Certain brands of lactose-free milk break down the lactose in such a way that 2% milk ends of being as sweet as whole – and due to the ultra pasteurization process, lasts in the fridge for almost 8 weeks.
Shake is short for MILK shake. Even if it says yogurt, it will have milk because a shake is more than just ice cream.
I don’t care whether he is lactose intolerant or has a milk allergy. Whatever his actual medical diagnosis is, his biggest problem is the fact that he would still go to Dairy Queen. DAIRY Queen. A vegetarian shouldn’t go to a place called “The Meat Barn” (a former store in my hometown), someone with celiac (gluten allergy) should avoid bakerys, and someone abstaining from milk for WHATEVER reason deserves what he gets if he patronizes the DAIRY Queen or Steak ‘n SHAKE. The word “shake” is a huge tipoff that there will be milk present, it’s used to thin out shakes! Unless you’ve personally spoken to the chef, you are not doing your job to protect yourself.
@spiderjerusalem:
you’d be surprised… a lot of commercial pesto in the u.s. has no nuts. some cheap bastards still have the audacity to charge a lot for it, even without the nuts! whatev. imo, make your own – it’s much better.
but hey, just in case any milk/lactose/whatever allergy people were interested, there’s always cheese in pesto.
Whoa! Popular thread! As someone with several life-threatening food allergies – I can sympathize with the fear Jim probably experienced, but I also agree with many of the earlier posters that he is ultimately responsible for what enters his body.
I’ve spent varying periods of time in 4 different countries and have traveled quite a bit and still managed to eat out with my allergies. How? Call ahead. Read web sites. Speak with the chef or owner before the restaurant gets busy.
If I’m forced to try a place “on the fly” – my usual tactic is to ask the server to speak to someone who could discuss the contents of the food as I have life-threatening allergies. I then prepare myself to NOT eat anything if I feel the least bit uncertain. So far this has worked reasonably well – I’ve only had 2 incidents in 34 years – one was completely my fault and one was due to a Cookies by George outlet in Toronto forgetting that they cook all of their cookies (or at least, they did then) in a peanut-based oil.
Food allergies are serious. Public facilities, serving food, be they restaurants, hot dog vendor etc. should disclose the ingredients of the food they prepare/serve. Long story told short, our son had a severe anaphalatic reaction to tree nuts after eating at a Macaroni Grill. They do not publish or disclose their ingredients. For the details go to
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/fasters/ “Food Allergy Survivors Together”.
Found this on lifehacker.com a while ago:
http://www.allergycards.com/index.php#top
We carry cards in a couple of languages and are prepared to walk out if our son can eat nothing on the menu. Better hungry than dead.
NJTrout
Food allergies are serious, but the point here is that Jim doesn’t have a milk allergy, or else he would know that yogurt is also off-limits. Yogurt contains the milk protein that causes milk allergy, just as milk does. Anyone with a real allergy would know this.
However, this thread is great because it’s brought to light the real consumer concern, that restaurants should post allergy information and/or accurate ingredient lists. That way, anyone with a real, life-threatening allergy could check out the food in advance and not put their life in the hands of their waitress.
Well, I really didn’t expect such a response to my post! I’m the original poster, Jim. My allergy (or call it whatever you will) is to the lactose, which is present in milk products, and is not present in any substantial amount in yogurt. I have been treated by several physicians, 2 of which are specialists, one of which advised me to go to the ER the night I consumed a “milk” milkshake. The symptons included severe abdominal pain and shortness of breath ( which I considered sufficient to warrant a visit to the ER) Like many posters stated, everyone has different reactions. I was advised to try yogurt, which I have, and never had a reaction. Call it what you may, milk causes me issues and yogurt doesn’t. The LARGE sign hanging over our table that day at Steak and Shake said ” Fruit and Yogurt SHAKES” not milkshakes. I really should have snapped a picture of it. Anyways, I felt I was careful mentioning it when ordering, and confirming it when the shake was delivered to the table, as I always do when I’m not 100% sure.
I’m glad to see so many people are concerned enough to write and express their concern, and relate similar stories. To those of you who are critical, say what you will, you don’t live with the problem every day like I do and do some of the posters above. Maybe I was not “medically correct”, but bottom line is I try and be careful, and if I’m not, it causes me extreme discomfort. I am going to ask my physcian to post his comments here for those who demand “medical correctness” I called him this morning and pointed him to this website.
As far as Steak and Shake’s service, I have always had excellent service there at that location, we’ve been going there for years.
They seem to have had a management change there since my last visit. The place was a mess, there didn’t seem to be enough help, and I almost walked out after waiting at the register for 10 minutes to pay the bill. I asked to see the manager, and was told he was busy and if I wished to wait, I sould speak with him. Needless to say, I had had enough and left.
At least my point was made, and apparently many of you agree with me on the point of this posting, the food allergy awqareness. Thanks to all who posted!
@BillyShears: Because I know that people sometimes use the wrong terminology by mistake, but people don’t END UP IN THE ER BY MISTAKE. You’re basically accusing someone of LYING about LIFE AND DEATH. And you still won’t admit that your head is inverted up your you-know-what, and say “yes, some people really can wind up with life-threatening problems if they are given milk”. You keep insisting that the OP is a drama king/queen. When it’s entirely possible that they nearly DIED. All because you don’t want to admit you were wrong on the internet.
How lame.
Reminds me of when I was a teen and worked at a McDonald’s. The store I worked at was down the street from a cardiology center (how appropriate) and at least once a week we’d get somebody whose cardiologist had told him/her to cut the sodium in their diet, so naturally, their next stop was a McDonald’s where they’d tell us they couldn’t have “the sodium” and we’d make a fresh batch of fries without sprinkling the salt on them.
And then they’d order a Big Mac and a Coke, both of which are packed with sodium. People? Are fucking stupid.
Bottom line: If ingesting milk/dairy/cheese whathaveyou will make you violently, painfully ill, don’t go to fast food restaurants that have built their menu around the very substance to which you are deathly allergic. Jim has no one to blame but himself.
Also, Buran (or is it Jim?) needs to lighten up.
Even if you are lactose intolerant, you may be able to eat small amounts of foods made with milk that have very little lactose in them: yogurt, some cheeses, etc.
The key word here is: SMALL AMOUNTS. I don’t think anyone with true lactose intolerance would order a yogurt shake (what are they 16 oz, 20 oz?- that’s a lot of yogurt) expecting to have no symptoms.
Something seems fishy about this story.
I am allergic to Corn and Soy. However, I didn’t know about either allergy until I was 26. Despite this, I would get horribly and dangerously ill the few times I was forced to eat at McDonalds (kids do get forced to go if others want to eat there).
Even after diagnosis of the Corn and Soy food allergies, I had no idea that they were present in EACH and EVERY food dish at McDonalds. Even the fountain drink water is contaiminated from the other fountain drinks sprays.
My point is it took several years of hard research to find out all possible food items my allergens could be in and how difficult it would be to avoid them. No waiter or waitress has ever been able to help me avoid either Corn or Soy food allergies, they are just too difficult and have too many different names.
Even with all my research, if I eat out I run about a 75% chance or higher of having an allergic reaction to Corn or Soy. When I stay home and only buy the same *safe* foods over and over again I have about a 10% chance to have an allergic reaction to Corn or Soy.
I take full personal responsibility each time I eat out. I know better than to fully trust any restaurant to keep me safe, when I can’t even keep me safe at home.
Side note: Diarrhoea can be a severe allergic reaction. It is my primary dangerous food allergy reaction. It can be especially dangerous if you have almost constant Diarrhoea, because you can not avoid your allergens. It can cause Hypokalemia which is a dangerous state where you can find yourself paralyzed, not breathing, and with your heart dangerously out of rythym. Trust me. Not fun.
I have to second some of the comments on here in support of the OP. There *is* a difference between milk and yoghurt, and in fact, yoghurt that is fermented for long enough can be completely lactose-free. I know this for a fact because my husband has Crohn’s and can’t have lactose, and we make yoghurt at home for him.
Whenever we go out to eat, we double and triple-check with the waiter, explain about his serious condition (he has many restrictions, not just dairy), and there are often still mistakes. The OP double-checked before he ate something, and I think that was the smart thing to do.
My husband’s Crohn’s, by the way, is serious enough that drinking milk would make him very sick, and possibly send him to the hospital. Like others have suggested, we can’t have any idea what is going on in the OP’s body, and it is extremely presumptuous of us to doubt his medical condition without knowing *everything* about him. All of our bodies are unique, and illnesses affect different people differently. Medical sights talk about the average situation. e.g. look up information about a goitre, and all of the standard sources will say that it’s not dangerous. Tell that to the extremely small percentage of people who find out that theirs is malignant. It’s impossible to make blanket statements with regard to medical issues.
@acambras: It’s a small chain of restaurants in the L.A. area. There’s one in Hollywood, another in West LA, another in South Central (the original, I think), another in Long Beach, and one in Pasadena.
If the opportunity to check one out presents itself, give it a shot. The food is fantastic.
I am writing as a food allergy expert, because one of my support group members mentioned this article.
It’s very important to point out that the article itself is full of misinformation. Food allergies and lactose intolerance are completely unrelated health conditions.
People who have lactose intolerance cannot digest the lactose in milk. This is usually a minor inconvenience, occasionally helped with an over-the-counter product. Many people with lactose intolerance can handle yogurt.
People with milk allergy may die from milk present in food. ANY milk ingredient must be strictly avoided, including casein, cheese, lactalbumin, whey, yogurt, etc. Yogurt is not by any means a safe food for someone with a milk allergy.
This statement: “It is common for people with milk allergies to order yogurt as a safe alternative.” is not only untrue, but very dangerous. Yogurt is not safe for people with a milk allergy.
Any food that contains yogurt contains dairy, and you shouldn’t have to ask someone to know that.
I have read the comments so far and must say I am highly amused by all the so called experts that have popped up. I am also LI (as everyone so eloquently called it) and find it difficult to avoid restaurants with milk. What is so wrong with a person choosing to go for a burger at a place with milk products? The person isn’t going to order one if they can’t have them. I myself just watch what I order but I was even mislead by the frozen yogurt shake. Restaurants should not advertise as frozen yogurt when it is more milk than yogurt. When you see frozen yogurt you don’t think hey maybe I should go on a website to look up what’s in this. You assume that what is said is true. I believe it is called false advertising. FYI if you are LI don’t order a chocolate frozen yogurt and get made if you feel a bit ill. Chocolate isn’t good for you also. I believe that Jim has a valid complaint. Things should be advertised in the correct manor or the employees should be better informed. That and actually listen to the customers not just nod their heads and mindlessly go off to place an order.
Dear Jim,
I agree that all associates who work at sns should no need to know certain allergies, but i do not know of any sns without a consumer advisory right on the front door as you enter the store. It also specificly says fruit and frozen yogut milkshakes(key word Milk). it is tragic that people dont know the importance of consumer safety towards health, but it is also very difficult to know each persons own health issues. if you are allergic you should ask before instead of blaming others after all it is your body not theirs. go to sns.com and link to menu, it has a nutrition calander with specific allergies listed in the last colomn. as for the dining experience it sounded poor if the manager cant stop to take care of the one thing that is most important (the guest). apologies can only go so far and it is impossible to change the past.
As a waitress that works at Steak ‘n Shake, I apologize for what happened. However, you have to realize that our training as waitresses doesn’t cover ingredients used in our items. Waitresses aren’t the ones working in the kitchens, and you can’t expect us to know every single detail of what goes in your food. For another thing, waitresses at Steak ‘n Shake are usually very young and paid only $2.85 an hour.
Instead of ordering the way you did with a small sidenote about your lactose interolerance, you should have first had her check with the kitchen staff. In ordering the shake, you made it sound as if it were no big deal.
Having also worked on the fountains before, however, be aware that all of our shakes have milk in them. The reason for this? Otherwise, they wouldn’t be shakes. Also, yogurt shakes are made with the same machines that normal milkshakes are.
Also, I am a server at Steak N Shake. And i am going to defend all of the hard working “Fast Food Servers” out there. Just because we work in a restaurant does not mean that we are unintelligent and without class. If the gentleman told me that he was lactose intolerant, i would have suggested he got an Iced tea instead. Just to be on the safe side. Seriously, I read a comment saying that we don’t have “medical expertise”, that is true however, most of us have common sense. Thank you, Sarah ST