Meat, poultry, seafood, eggs

Chicken, whole fresh or frozen chicken (no seasoning or stuffing, not self-basting or a manufactured meat), chicken breast fillets, thighs, pieces (no marinade or flavour enhancers) (Not suitable for your supervised elimination diet: for people who can tolerate amines: chicken skin e.g. wings or offal e.g. chicken livers) WARNING hot roast chickens are highly likely to contain flavour enhancers including 635 e.g see [522] poisoned by a hot chicken

Eggs, fresh, chicken or duck, preferably free range Warning a large number of egg whites eaten in a single meal e.g. meringue or pavlova, may be a problem for amine responders. In our experience, old eggs can be problem for amine responders – thick white means fresh, the more thin white, the older the egg. Eggs are only as good as what is fed to the chickens that produce them. Omega three eggs come from chickens fed large quantities of linseed oil, and some failsafers are affected. Every year in the US, more than half a million people become ill after eating eggs contaminated with Salmonella and more than 300 people die. Salmonella is a bacteria often found in the ovaries of intensively farmed hens which can contaminate the eggs before the shells are formed. It can cause fever and diarrhea. Since September 2001, residents in the US have been warned to eat only very well cooked eggs. This means no more licking the bowl while making a cake, no soft-boiled eggs, eggs fried sunny-side up, softly scrambled or in omelettes and French toast. Avoid also Caesar salad, mousses, hollandaise sauce, home-made mayonnaise and icecream with eggs. So some of our Australian recipes are not suitable for US eggs. Salmonella has been almost entirely eliminated from Swedish and Dutch eggs. Hopefully, the FDA will be able to get it under control too. Independent scientists at CSPI recommend that farmers should reduce crowding, increase hygiene and stop starving the hens in order to increase egg production.

Fish and seafood must be very fresh, best eaten within 12 hours of catch or frozen and eaten within 2 weeks (in my experience, supermarket fish and seafood is never fresh enough). White fish or seafood, e.g. snapper, barramundi, whiting, flake, perch, bream, Balmain bugs, crab, crayfish, lobster, mussels, oysters, calamari, sea scallops (but not salmon, tuna or prawns). Best from specialty fish shops, fishing co-ops and friends who fish, ask for the freshest and eat that day (Not suitable for your supervised elimination diet • for people who can tolerate moderate amines: fresh tuna, salmon, trout, sashimi. For people who can tolerate all amines, frozen or canned fish including tuna, salmon or sardines in spring water or failsafe oils, e.g. John West sandwich tuna in canola oil, no flavours, no flavour enhancers, no olive oil. No prawns which contain sulphite preservatives, no imitation crab sticks, seafood salad mix or seafood extenders which contain flavour enhancers)

Fish fingers, make your own. (Not suitable for your supervised elimination diet • for people who can tolerate high amines fish fingers made from permitted ingredients, no annatto 160b). One mother wrote ‘The label says “no artificial colours or flavours” and the ingredients list annatto extracts without a number. “It’s almost like they’re tricking you.’ ). Birds Eye fish fingers have no 160b annatto, most other brands contain at least 160b, several with added glutamates.

Warning Mercury in fish: pregnant women, women planning pregnancy and young children are advised to limit their intake of shark (flake), broadbill, marlin and swordfish to no more than one serve per fortnight with no other fish to be consumed during that fortnight. For orange roughy (also sold as sea perch) and catfish, the advice is to consume no more than one serve per week, with no other fish being consumed during that week. For people who can tolerate amines: canned tuna generally has lower levels of mercury than other tuna because the tuna used for canning are smaller species that are generally caught when less than 1 year old. It is considered safe for all population groups to consume a snack can of tuna (95 grams) everyday, assuming no other fish is eaten. More at www.foodstandards.gov.au

Lamb or beef, buy fresh meat (preferably not supermarket meat that may have been vacuum packed (cryovacced) for three months or more use the day you buy or freeze and eat within one month e.g. preservative-free mince (you can test for preservatives with sulphite test strips from our website), beef roast, T-bone or sirloin steak for pan frying, lamb leg for roast, diced lamb for stew, lamb steak, lamb loin chops for grilling, chump chops for stewing • veal for schnitzel • failsafe sausages - ask your specialist butcher if he will make up the failsafe sausage recipe (Fed Up and Failsafe Cookbook) or see below for butchers who will make sausages to order) (Not suitable for your supervised elimination diet: for people who can tolerate amines: offal e.g. steak and kidney, lamb’s fry)

Meat: beef, lamb, goat, veal, rabbit, chicken

Meat is best fresh, preferably not supermarket meat that may have been vacuum packed (cryovacced) for three months or more as this allows a buildup of amines – ask your specialist butcher for meat that hasn’t been vacuum packed. Eat the day you buy or freeze and eat within one month. (No additives, no flavoured or preserved deli meats, manufactured meats, lunch meat such as chicken roll or devon; no pork, ham, or bacon)

• beef e.g. mince, roast, T-bone or sirloin steak for barbecue or pan frying, Failsafe sausages see below Warning illegal sulphites in beef mince – surveys show that up to 50% of butchers will add illegal sulphite preservatives to mince if they are not constantly monitored; you can test your own mince using our sulphite test strips.

• lamb e.g. leg for roast, diced lamb for stew, lamb steak, lamb loin chops for grilling, chump chops for stewing

• veal chops for barbecues, kebabs, veal for schnitzel, minced veal for meatballs or meatloaf

• rabbit, see our casserole recipe in the Failsafe Cookbook

• goat, can be used in lamb recipes. Make sure it is fresh.

• veal e.g. mince for rissoles or meat loaves, stir fry, schnitzel

• chicken e.g. whole fresh or frozen chicken (no skin due to amines; no seasoning, stuffing, self-basting or manufactured meat), chicken breast fillets, thighs, pieces (no marinade or flavour enhancers)

• Meat & chicken not suitable for your supervised elimination diet: for people who can tolerate amines: pork chops, roast pork, additive-free ham and bacon from organic butchers or health food stores but beware of MSG-type flavor enhancers such as hydrolysed vegetable protein; chicken skin, (e.g. wings), offal (e.g. steak and kidney, lamb’s fry and chicken livers) • additive free ham or bacon (free of nitrates and nitrites)

• Sausages - beef, lamb or chicken (not pork).

Pork, NONE (Not suitable for your supervised elimination diet: for people who can tolerate amines: pork chops, roast pork, additive-free ham and bacon from organic butchers or health food stores)

Prawns, NONE. Warning prawns always contain sulphite preservatives no matter how fresh they are .

Reader report 1: ‘Just purchased my Xmas prawns and thinking to avoid any additives always buy 'Australian' uncooked prawns .As I purchased 2Kg they came in the original box and shock, horror, I see preservative ticked, and then 223. I rang the fish man, and he informs me that all prawns are treated with 223 to prevent discolouring. This is common practice across the industry, the only difference being that imported prawns may not declare the preservative on the packaging. Phoned the Health department who were completely unaware of this practice. I suggested that as processed foods have to have labelling of sulphite ingredients what of the 'fresh' product? An asthmatic with sensitivities to the sulphur group of preservatives may well react to prawns and then assume this is a seafood allergy, as preservative would not be considered a factor. – thanks to Judy

Reader report 2: Our asthmatic 6 yo son had a severe reaction to prawns which resulted in hospital visit with severe swelling like burns on legs and swollen ankles unable to walk and rash all over chest (we thought seafood allergy but test proved negative - later found out treated with preservative 223! That was the culprit.) – thanks to Glenda

Sausages

Failsafe sausages

e.g. beef, lamb or chicken, not pork - ask your specialist butcher if he will make up the Failsafe Sausages recipe in all my books or below.

Sausage casings are permitted to contain sulphite preservatives at the same level as sausages. Since sausage casings are such a small component of a sausage, and being on the outside of the sausage are subjected to the highest heat which will drive off sulphites, it is likely that these pose little risk to failsafers.

If your butcher won't make failsafe sausages, make your own with this simple recipe. (If you have a Thermomix you can use cubed meat and the Thermomix will quickly turn all the ingredients into sausage mince - we've just bought one, and my only regret is that I didn't buy it years ago - thanks Jen)

Search for butchers who make failsafe sausages - by postcode in Australia

Warning: Sausages labeled gluten free or preservative free are not failsafe. A typical ingredients list for unlabeled gluten free and supposedly preservative free sausages sold by a butcher: ‘meat potato starch maize starch salt soy protein spice yeast extract spice extract (incl 160c) flavour contains soy sulphites’, so there are 2 sources of salicylates and at least 2 MSG-type flavor enhancers. Howard was amazed recently to find that all the sausages in our Woolworths contained hydrolysed vegetable protein, which is a glutamate-containing ingredient like MSG.

Warning: Even if labelled failsafe, do not trust your butcher, always check every ingredient yourself. Friendly butchers do not understand why they can’t add e.g. pepper, paprika, onion powder or spices to improve the flavour. They are just trying to be helpful. Chicken sausages must contain meat only, no chicken skin which is high in amines.

The above list shows the most common items. For a comprehensive list see RPAH's Friendly Food 2019 available from our shop, Target and BigW.

update September 2019