Carrie's Experimental Kitchen: Food Allergy Awareness Week

Monday, May 14, 2012

Food Allergy Awareness Week

This week, May 13-19, 2012, marks National Food Allergy Awareness Week. I can say that my family is one of the fortunate ones who do not have any type of food allergies, that we know of yet anyway, but several of my daughters' friends have food allergies and we really have to watch the labels when they're eating over or if I send snacks into school. There are 15 Million people that have some type of food allergy and boys are more likely than girls to have them according FoodAllergy.org . Every 3 minutes a food allergy reaction sends someone to the emergency department– that is about 200,000 emergency department visits per year, and every 6 minutes the reaction is one of anaphylaxis.

There are eight foods account for 90% of all food-allergic reactions: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (e.g., walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans), wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. Estimated prevalence, some based on self-report, among the U.S. population:

Peanut: 0.6-1.3%
Tree nuts: 0.4-0.6%
Fish: 0.4%
Crustacean shellfish (crab, crayfish, lobster, shrimp): 1.2%
All seafood: 0.6% in children and 2.8% in adults
Milk and egg: based on data within and obtained outside the United States, this rate is likely to be 1-2% for young children and 0.2-0.4% in the general population.

If you are one of the 15 million that have food allergens, FoodAllergy.org can help you search for recipes based on your specific food allergen.

Here is an example. Simply check off the box(es) you wish, and they will pull up recipes for you omitting those ingredients. Now, I can't tell you how these recipes actually taste as I've never made them myself, but it's a step in the right direction.