Vegetarian foods, processed variety such as Quorn - when are they safe?

[CarrieG]

ie. when can ds have Quorn mince/pieces etc? He's approaching 6 months. He's had the odd bit of Tesco's veg frankfurter with no discernible ill effects.

I quite often make chicken-y recipes using Quorn for dh & myself (he's a veggie, I eat fish occasionally) - if it's something that would be OK with chicken, can I assume Quorn would be fine too?

[dramaqueen72]

yes, i gave quorn fairly early on, as you say, when you'd normally introduce other proteins such as chicken, go ahead and try it. my dd wont eat chicken but will eat quorn (esp the nuggets with the breadcrumbs taken off!!) as its not so dry.
she also liked the sausages, (mostly the quorn ones with cheese & spinach in)
good luck!

[bluebear]

I think Quorn is bound together with egg - so I wouldn't give it to a baby until they were egg-eating age (9 months at least in this house, but we are prone to allergies). Mycoprotein (like mushroom) should be safe enough.
My vegetarian children have both had quorn infrequently since 1 year old. They have had soya mince at nursery - tends to give under 1s tummy ache in my experience.
Lentils (esp. red lentils) are an ideal protein source for veggie babies - cook down to a nice mush, just bung some in a vegetable cassorole.

[singsong]

My ds is nearly 6 months too and he?s been having pureed quorn pieces/mince in food regularly for a couple of weeks now with no problems. I wouldn?t think it is a problem unless he?s either prone to allergies or reacts badly to it in some way.

[CarrieG]

Thanks both, was mostly concerned about possible allergies or difficulty in digesting so that's very helpful.

I think I'll check out the egg factor before experimenting (eggsperimenting? ) - but it's a relief that the mycoprotein itself should be OK. We do lentils too, but dh is a big fan of Quorn - personally I think it's a bit dull, but it's v convenient to just adapt a non-veggie recipe by substituting it for the meat content.

[CarrieG]

Oh sorry & thanks singsong, x posted!

[sweetkitty]

Carrie - I asked the same question last week and found this on mumsnet

Been trawling through the archives and found this

Quorn and textured vegetable protein

The manufacturers of Quorn recommend that it is not introduced into a child?s diet before the age of two years. Textured vegetable protein may be difficult for young babies to digest, and its salt content must be watched.

Think it's from the veg society website.

[CarrieG]

Thank you sweetkitty! Looks like it's off the menu for awhile then.