May 8th-14th is Food Allergy Awareness Week.
May 8th-14th is Food Allergy Awareness Week.
In support of people in our community who have food allergies we continue to search for and add more foods free of common allergens. Our family is affected by food allergies and so we are aware of and sensitive to the issues that families with food allergy face. One of our goals is to provide products that make life a little easier for local families affected by food allergies.
Food allergies are affecting more and more children in the U.S. Food allergies are serious, can be fatal and require strict avoidance of the food allergen. Sometimes even ingesting trace amounts of or coming in skin contact with the food allergen can cause a reaction.
The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) (www.foodallergy.org), a Virginia-based nonprofit organization, is a valuable resource for those who want to learn more about food allergies. FAAN has collected facts about food allergy, some of which we’ve included below. For a .pdf document listing these and other food allergy basics see: http://www.foodallergy.org/FAAW/FoodAllergyBasics.pdf.
“At least 1 in every 20 children under the age of 3 has food allergies.”
“More than eleven million Americans suffer from food allergy….”
“Eight foods account for 90% of all reactions in the U. S.: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans, etc.), wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish.”
“Food allergy reactions result in over 30,000 emergency room admissions each year.”
“Most individuals who have had a reaction ate a food they thought was safe.”
“It is estimated that between 150 and 200 people die annually from anaphylaxis to food; many of these are adolescents and young adults.”
“There is no cure for food allergy. Strict avoidance of the allergy-causing food is the only way to prevent a reaction.”
“Studies have shown that early administration of epinephrine (adrenaline), available by prescription as EpiPen®, is key to a patient’s survival of anaphylaxis shock.”
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