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Food Allergies: Challenges and Opportunities for Food Service

Take-home messages

  • The eight most common food allergens are eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, shellfish, soy, tree nuts (such as walnuts, almonds, and pecans), and wheat,
  • Any food can trigger an allergic reaction for someone who is allergic to it
  • Allergy-provoking foods are sometimes "hidden" ingredients in foods supplied to restaurants.
  • Even trace amounts of an allergen can cause allergic reactions in highly sensitive people.

What foods trigger allergies?

Many kinds of foods can trigger allergic reactions in susceptible people. Most of the offending substances are proteins that are not broken down by heat from cooking or by stomach acids. About 90 percent of all food allergic reactions are caused by these common food allergens:

  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Milk
  • Peanuts
  • Shellfish such as shrimp, crayfish, lobster and crab
  • Soy
  • Tree nuts such as walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts/filberts, macadamia nuts, pistachio nuts.
  • Wheat

Although these foods account for the majority of food-related allergic reactions, other foods can cause problems for some people. Researchers have found that people with ragweed allergies have cross-reactivity with melons, for example, particularly cantaloupe. Especially during ragweed season, they may experience itching in their mouth and be unable to eat melon. People with severe birch bark allergy sometimes have an allergic reaction to apple peels.

The only way for people with food allergies to avoid trouble is to avoid the offending food.

That's fairly easy with packaged foods that list ingredients. But when food allergy sufferers buy take-out meals or go out to eat, dining becomes a special challenge-and not only because most menus don't list all the ingredients in a dish. Sometimes even the chef may not be aware of potentially dangerous allergens if some items come from suppliers. And allergy-provoking substances can lurk undetected. Eggs, milk, nuts, and wheat appear in many dishes.

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