Page 252 - How to Be a Conscious Eater - Making Food Choices That Are Good for You

CONSIDER THESE SOBERING STATISTICS:
The number of health insurance claims from severe
reactions caused by food allergies jumped almost
400 percent between 2007 and 2016.
Roughly $25 billion is spent annually in response to severe
allergic reactions to food.
Food allergies affect children the most—8 percent have at
least one, and milk is the most common. About 5 percent
of US adults have a food allergy, and shellfish is the most
common. (Most children with milk allergy outgrow it.)
The rate of people with food allergies is doubling roughly
every decade. In the 1980s, it was estimated that only
1 percent or less of the population had a food allergy.

died from eating at an Indian restaurant, the owner was said
to have a “cavalier” attitude and was sentenced to six years
in jail. The Times reported, “He had cut corners . . . replac-
ing almond powder in his recipes . . . with a cheaper mix of
groundnuts, and hiring untrained, undocumented workers
to turn out the popular curry dishes at his restaurants.” The
silver lining of tragedies like this one is that, over the years,
restaurants have beefed up their food safety protocols and
staff trainings.

It’s changed what’s on the menu in the first place. As mentioned, the
eight most common allergenic foods in America are crusta-
cean shellfish, eggs, fish, cow’s milk, peanuts, soy, tree nuts,
and wheat. They account for about 90 percent of food allergies.
More and more, rather than finding ways to accommodate
individual substitutions, many professional kitchens are
doing away with the top eight altogether. Sure, it means the
95 percent of adults with no food allergies aren’t eating ingre-
dients there that they might enjoy, but they have countless

Stuff that’s made in restaurant kitchens 241

Conscious Eater_04 PT_4th patches.indd 241 10/23/19 1:38 PM