Read Everything

I should practice what I preach.  Read everything.  Its so easy to think you know it all, or become overly familiar with a product that you grab it without thinking.  In our world of food allergies, that is very dangerous.  I screwed up a few days ago, but caught it during the cooking stage.  It was 2 years, 6 months, and 2 days into living with my child's food allergies, and the first time I accidentally cooked with something that had dairy in it.  Lets just say I was devastated. 

I do read food labels.  I also look for stamps on the labels called hechshers, indicating the food item is kosher, and approved by a rabbinic group that monitors the manufacturing process.  It makes it a little easier, because if something has dairy in it, besides having to be marked on the general ingredients label, the hechsher would usually identify with the letter d or by stating dairy.  While I keep kosher, I don't always buy items with a hechsher if the ingredient list is clear that there is nothing non-kosher in it. 

Here is what I did.  I bought tomato paste and added some to turkey meatballs I was making.  After browning the meatballs, and putting them in the oven, I began to clean up.  Luckily, I turned the can of paste around and was surprised by the long ingredient list.  I should have caught this at the grocery store.  The store where I purchased it has the paste in bins, so either they were jumbled together or I didn't see the separate bins.  Can you spot the difference on these two cans?

The cans are almost identical.  Same size, same colors on the labels.  And yes, I must ask, who puts dairy in tomato paste?  The first product's ingredient list is....tomatoes.  That's it.  It does have a hechsher.  The second is a long list.  [It doesn't have a hechsher.]  And some Italian food items will have a double label showing off in two languages what the item is.  Hence, my not catching the Tomato Pesto.  Had I read the back, it was clearly marked that it contained milk. 
All in all, its my own fault.  Thankfully it was caught in time.  It serves as a reminder that I must read, read, read.