Rise of Food Allergies Among Guests Over the past decade, incidents of food allergies among guests have been significantly increasing. In some cases so serious that sixty-three deaths occurred nationwide between 1996 and 2006, says the 4Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. The most common allergens include dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish as well as soy and wheat. It is believed that this increase may be partly due to insufficient knowledge of food allergies in the restaurant industry. Another idea is the "hygiene hypothesis", which states that a possible reason for the increase in the number of people with allergies could be due to the increase in antibacterial products and a higher sanitary environment. The immune system activates food to protect the body. Could it be the economy? Are managers not including allergy awareness for their employees because of the cost? Do Restaurants Know How to Handle Food Allergies? Do they want to go the extra mile to serve the customer who enters their establishment with a food allergy? I know from experience how difficult it is to get the exact ingredients used in a dish from a server. Most of the time, I'm told, "I don't believe that, but let me check." It is good practice for servers to ask chefs about the dish, but what if the chef is not available and you, as a server, missed the pre-shift and didn't know the executive chef decided to use a new, cheaper product. Some restaurateurs open restaurants for the simple reason of making money. Others are truly committed to customers and implement additional measures to ensure customer satisfaction by offering whole foods or adopting menus that rely solely on seasonally available foods and ingredients. There are some famous restaurants... middle of paper... that offer new concepts. Shortcuts are formulated every day. We must be well prepared for the possibility of a life-threatening emergency. Works Cited1 “Welcoming Guests with Food Allergies in Restaurants,” 2011. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, April 25, 2011 http://www.foodallergy.org/page /restaurants-guests-with-food-allergies “ The AllergyIssue,” QSR Magazine, April 25, 2011. http://www.qsrmagazine.com/food-safety/allergy-issue Hensley Sue. "Press Release" National Restaurant Association, August 25, 2008, April 26, 20113http://www.restaurant.org/pressroom/pressrelease/index.cfm?ID=1668 Santovec, Mary Lou "Serving the Customer with Food Allergies" , Wisconsin Restaurant Association, April 26, 2011 http://www.wirestaurant.org/press/alerts/090819_allergies.php2Hernandez 1 Hernandez 2 Hernandez 3 Hernandez 4 Hernandez 5 Hernandez 6 Hernandez 7