Special Diets
Cal Dining is committed to helping our customers with their dietary needs. Whether you have food allergies, religious restrictions, vegan/vegetarian diet or simply need assistance with your food selections, Cal Dining can provide the resources to help you make delicious choices, safely and easily.

Students can set up a meeting with Registered Dietitian Renee Simpson or by calling (510) 643-8323.

Allergies
Cal Dining is committed to helping our customers with their dietary needs. Whether you have food allergies, religious dietary restrictions or simply need particular guidance or assistance with your food selections, Cal Dining can provide the resources to help you make delicious choices, safely and easily.

Although we do our best to meet the needs of food allergic students, we are not a gluten or allergen free facility.  All items prepared in our facilities are at risk of coming in contact with these ingredients, as well as all other highly allergenic foods.

Food Allergies
A food allergy is defined as a disorder of the body's immune system in response to specific food proteins. Food allergy symptoms can range in severity from the discomfort associated with mild lactose intolerance to the occasionally fatal anaphylaxis associated with some extreme nut allergies.
The most common food allergies among adults are milk, eggs, shellfish, fish, peanuts, tree nuts, soy wheat and alcohol. Often, these items are hidden ingredients in food recipes and special care must be taken to avoid them. Please review the resources section in order to learn tips to manage allergies at Cal Dining.
More information about food allergies can be found at www.foodallergy.org
Cal Dining is a member of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis network. View College Guidelines here.

Religious Dietary Restrictions
Certain religious practices restrict dietary intake and necessitate close attention to recipe ingredients. The most commonly restricted foods are certain types of meat, fish and dairy. As indicated below, a comprehensive food labeling system is under development in order to easily identify the use of such foods.
If your religious or cultural customs require close attention to diet, please review the resources section in order to learn how to identify food ingredients of Cal Dining recipes.

Vegan/Vegetarian Resources

Food choices are made for many different reasons: cultural, emotional, economical, religious, ethical, environmental and personal health. For those who choose a vegetarian diet or vegan diet, Cal Dining offers a varity options to meet your needs.

At Cal Dining, there are daily selections for both vegetarian (no meat or fish) and vegan (no animal products of any kind, including meat, eggs and dairy) diets. The choices are marked by the following symbols:

While there are undoubtedly some health benefits to a vegetarian diet, a nutritious diet can draw from an enormous range of foods. In fact, a vegetarian diet by no means ensures good nutritional health. With all types of vegetarian diets, it is important to also maintain appropriate caloric intake and to ensure that all essential nutrients found in meat or dairy products are otherwise obtained through other sources.

You can never go wrong by eating lots of fruits and vegetables, so whatever choices you make regarding meat and animal products- be sure to include a variety of fresh fruits and veggies, too!

Find more information about vegetarian and vegan diets at: www.goveg.com or www.vrg.org

Essential Nutrients

While a vegetarian diet is typically lower in saturated fats and cholesterol, it should also be carefully planned to ensure that all essential nutrients available in a diet containing meat are still consumed.

Protein
It is fairly easy to meet protein requirements in a vegan diet, as long as the sources are varied and intake is high enough. Soy protein has equal amounts of protein as most animal proteins, other good sources include dairy products, eggs, whole grains, legumes, seeds and nuts.

Iron
Vegetarians may have a greater risk of iron deficiency than non vegetarians; the richest sources of iron are of animal origin. However, dried beans, spinach, enriched products and dried fruits are all good plant sources of iron.

Vitamin B-12
Because vitamin B-12 comes naturally only from animal sources vegans need a reliable source of vitamin B-12 added to their diets. It can be found in some fortified (not enriched) breakfast cereals, fortified soy beverages, and some other foods (check the labels), as well as vitamin supplements.

Vitamin D
While vegetarians who eat dairy products should be able to get adequate amounts of vitamin D, vegans should have a reliable source of vitamin D. Sunlight can be an adequate source of vitamin D; however, vegans who don't get much sunlight may need a supplement.

Calcium
Studies show that vegetarians absorb and retain more calcium from foods than non vegetarians do. Vegetable greens such as spinach, kale, broccoli, and some legumes and soybean products are good sources of calcium from plants.

Zinc
Good plant sources of zinc include grains, nuts and legumes. Shellfish are an excellent source of zinc. Take care to select supplements containing no more than 15-18 mg zinc. Supplements containing 50 mg or more may lower HDL ("good") cholesterol in some people.

Find more information about nutrients at www.nutrition.gov

Resources
Currently, Cal Dining is working to develop a comprehensive system of labeling food items that contain common allergens. Until the new identification system is completed, customers can request review of the Cal Dining recipe books to determine food ingredients. The recipe books are located in each of residential hall dining commons and can be provided by the cashiers.

To address further questions about special dietary needs, students should contact the manager on duty to set up a meeting with the general manager or chef of their dining commons. Appointments can also be made to discuss individualized diets by contacting dining@berkeley.edu.

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