Mustard has become Canada’s 11th priority allergen after a review by Health Canada as announced last week.

Health Canada had been reviewing several different foods including garlic and onions but only mustard made the list.  This is because while mustard allergies are not exactly rampant, they are more common than you might think and the severity of the recorded reactions has prompted concern.  Garlic and onions were considered but the evidence of recorded reactions shows less severity and more intolerance as opposed to an anaphylactic response.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’re aware that I had a cousin react to mustard in the spring which shocked everybody in the family except me.  Given what I do, I’ve been aware for several years that Europe labels for the top 12 food allergens (plus lupin) which includes Canada’s top 10 with the addition of mustard and celery.  Since November of 2008, I’ve been adding mustard, celery and lupin to the list that I send my ingredient suppliers to document.  The results prompted me to add celery to the list of allergen declarations on the Nonuttin’ website.

Like prior allergen labeling laws before it, this new regulation will require  food manufacturers to plainly list mustard if it is an ingredient.  Currently, if you’re allergic to mustard, you must avoid any product that simply lists “spices” as a food ingredient.  If you take a look at any of the products in your food cupboard, particularly savory items, you’ll find a lot of products that only indicate “spices”.

It would appear at first glance that this must be a huge relief for mustard allergy sufferers.   My hope is that the amount of products they can eat will increase with better labeling.   Unfortunately, as many of you with other food allergies can attest, food allergen labeling can backfire when manufacturers put all of the priority allergens on their label.

In any case, the review has prompted Health Canada to put into place review procedures for the priority allergens as the prevalence of food allergies grows and more data is documented.  It’s not easy for food manufacturers but it really is necessary as we battle with increasing immune system issues.

I always thought that when my daughters reacted to milk as infants and that followed with more allergies to peanuts, tree nuts and kiwi, that we were the first of our extended family to go through this journey.  While we may be the only ones with an anaphylactic response to date, traveling and talking to both sides of my family while on holidays over the last several weeks has brought other food allergies to light.

First, my 60 year old aunt just got diagnosed with peanut allergies.  After several bouts of terrible stomach pains after a late night snack of peanuts, testing last month revealed a “new” allergy to peanuts.  It sure makes me wonder what’s going on with our immune systems that allergies are increasing on both the front end of our life spans as well as the latter part.

Second, at our recent family reunion on my husband’s side, we met up again with my husband’s cousin who has 3 children, all allergic to milk.  Upon further discussion, that cousin, her brother and my husband all feel sick when ingesting clam chowder and all of them have had reactions with swelling eyes while eating shrimp.  My husband has avoided these items for years simply because they made him feel so sick as a child.  However, we now know that when he has red, swollen eyes, it inevitably leads back to shrimp.  None of these people have ever been formally diagnosed, they’ve just automatically avoided shellfish due to their experiences.

My cousin reminded me that her father (my maternal uncle), is also allergic to shrimp, a fact he discovered in his 30s when he order chicken balls that turned out to be shrimp, not chicken.  Luckily, as a pharmacist, he understood what was going on and was able to get some antihistamines on board.  This was over 30 years ago when these kinds of reactions were not the norm.

And now, our youngest has added another allergy to the list, albeit an easier one to control.  While stealing a  chickpea from her sister’s salad last Thursday night, she experienced itching at the back of her throat.  Given that she’s allergic to peanuts, this new development isn’t exactly surprising since chickpeas are a legume.  So no more hummus and chickpeas in this house.

Can you trace back any incidents in your family over the last 30 years that could be attributed to food allergies?  Is it that they were always there but we either didn’t pay much attention or that those individuals didn’t like the way they felt when they ate a particular food and so instinctually avoided it?  Maybe they’ve always been there but weren’t as severe as anaphylaxis or that larger amounts (rather than traces) would only cause the reaction.

For those moms who blame themselves for their child’s food allergies, maybe we can let go of that and start attaching blame a couple of generations back.  Sounds good to me.