Itchy throat from eating certain foods that read OK

That has happened to me. I know there is always the panic that the company may have lied to you, but... pa seldom occurs in isolation. It is possible that the reaction is to some other ingredient or obscure component in the food... and you may never know for sure but, either way, if it itches, stop serving it.

On PBS last night (4/24) there was a show called, "Harvest of Fear", a Frontline/Nova presentation. It was about genetic modified organisms/foods. How it is believed that they may trigger allergic reactions in people who already have allergies and may actually cause allergies to develop. We might actually be creating new allergens by using biotech. methods. Since food is not labeled as such it is suspected that foods are causing allergy symptoms that the consumer and even the companies/manufact. aren't able to identify. Corn based products was mentioned extensively because of the Starling corn that was manufactured for U.S. consumption, later found to be a "new" allergen, so banned and to be used only in animal feed. After just 6 years it is believed that it is so intergrated into our food supply that possibly 80% of corn based products may contain it. Has even been found in Gerber baby food though Gerber has stated they have discontinued using GMO's in their products. Taco Bell had a major recall of their taco shells when it was found there. When my child says she has an itchy throat from a product that I deemed safe, besides cross contamination, of course, I know wonder if this may be the cause. If you can get a copy of this tape, it is worth watching. They even talk about peanut allergies! They also mention how a brazilian nut was genetically altered into a soybean and was almost marketed in the U.S. "without nut warning" until someone confirmed in a lab that it would still cause nut reactions! It was not put on the market. This is a big unknown. Many feel you can't stop GMO/foods from getting into our food supply now and no one knows for sure what the long terms effects will be.

[This message has been edited by FromTheSouth (edited April 25, 2001).]

Hi Tracey, This has happened to us many, many
times. It is so frustrating. We seem to have a lot of problems with sweeten cereals. I have just stopped buying them, we eat a lot of oatmeal now.

Happens to us all the time too, I'm so sick of it. My son is 2. The other day he had to use his epipen, the culprit I think but don't understand was Motts cinnamon apples sauce and Franco-american spaghettio's with meatballs. Called the companies and they say impossible for peanuts to be in either. He is fine with Motts regular apples sauce. Anybody else had these problems?

Hi,

Cross contamination has been a big problem with my nut allergy. Especially in desserts. Just FYI, Mott's use to just have regular applesauce, but now they have over 10 differnt varieties - ones with spices (possibly nutmeg) and mango (in the pistachio and cashew family). This could be the problem. Making simple products complicated and having all these different varieties is such a big problem. Hope your son is okay and this helps!