The Food Standard Agency's chief scientist, Dr Andrew Wadge, published his annual report this month, in which were included recent statistics on the growth in allergy.
Having referred to the work currently going on at European level to establish internationally agreed reference values to define a tolerable risk to the allergic population and thereby 'action levels' for the food industry, he went on to give some detailed figures for the increase in hospitalisations as a result of food allergy:
2001–2002 – 3,825 people hospitalised as a result of food allergies
2001 – 763
hospital admissions due to anaphylactic shock
2010–2011 – 8,036 people hospitalised as a result of food allergies
2001 – 1,419
hospital admissions due to anaphylactic shock
However, he warned that these figures were only the tip of an iceberg:
'Many food allergic reactions are treated in accident and emergency or are self managed and are therefore not included in the statistics. Moreover, hospitalisation figures do not include asthmatic reactions thought to be induced by food allergies.'
Courtesy of Food Manufacture
First published in 2001 and 2011
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