Why did I unexpectedly burst out in hives like I was Will Smith in Hitch when I was 15?
Great question. It took me about a week to discover the answer, but I'll spare you the anticipation.
After tons of personal research and trips to urgent cares and hospitals alike, I was finally advised to visit an allergist for extensive testing. This normally would have seemed like a dismissive idea had I not been so desperate for immediate answers. I made appointments constantly and found myself in and out of clinics to receive skin and blood tests until there seemed to be nothing left to scan for.
Food allergies have never run heavily in my family, aside from the occasional intolerances of distant relatives. So I guess being diagnosed with close to 40 during my sophomore year of high school makes me a first-generation paranoid eater.
Forty is a large number. I agree.
(Please note that if I have ever rejected your dinner invitation it was not personal.)
From then on, my diet became the most important part of my life. Although I didn't want to be that girl, I really did not have a choice. I avoided restaurants and religiously read every letter of the nutrition labels for every single item I consumed.
When three times a day you're faced with a potentially deadly scenario, life becomes scary.
Most of the issues us disabled dieters seem to face stem from mislabeling.
The legalities of labeling food products are interesting, as ingredients can actually take years to be approved by the FDA. For suppliers, this isn’t a fun process.
From this inconvenience, a concept known as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe), was created in 1997. By designating ingredients involved in the manufacturing of a food product to be GRAS, they are no longer required to be displayed in the Nutritional Facts for that product. While this may seem like a novel idea for suppliers, it puts consumers at an extreme disadvantage.
This “GRAS scheme” has gotten to an alarming point where further investigation shows that if the FDA were to look more into what exactly is being labeled ineffective on consumers, it would open up a whole new door of problems. As a result, they just keep it shut. We now lack knowledge about what is being put into our bodies. Are carrots just carrots? Is your cereal entirely heart healthy?
Some would say the Food Industry is distorting information for personal benefit - whether that means convenience or profit. Regardless of your dietary needs or preferences, this statement should be alarming.
After delving into countless personal studies, as well as writing an academic research paper on the subject, I was completely shocked to find just how many loopholes there really are that can blindside consumers.
For example, in a 2015 study for the Czech Journal of Food Science, it was found that even major allergens such as the nuts can be traced from the sources you’d least expect. After analyzing 150 samples from local supermarkets, 5 out of 56 foods labeled nut-free were found positive for traces of hazelnut. This means there is a 5 in 56 chance that a consumer with a hazelnut allergy will be sent to an emergency room for eating a product they were told was safe for consumption.
Just to clarify, although the Czech Republic operates under the CAFIA (Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority) rather than the FDA, this issue is widespread to the Food Industry as a whole, and not one single entity is responsible for the misrepresentation and mishandling of lethal ingredients.
While scientific examples can be studied, the heartache that comes with seeing a loved one experience life-threatening encounters can be more eye-opening than anything else.
What's worse is experiencing your own throat close minutes after eating packaged food that is labeled safe for your dietary needs.
How could anyone feel safe?
While politics or religious affiliations may affect what consumers choose to eat or drink, Natural Selection will always have its eye on those which physically cannot tolerate a number of products.
By producing goods through loopholes and creating scarcity in areas of the Food Pyramid for certain consumers, suppliers are ultimately harming nearly everyone.
It’s time the Food Industry evolves - because at this rate these poor regulations are going to outlive us all.
