Caveat eater

Justine Chaney '10 did not know what was wrong.

"For about eight months I got mysterious, blistering headaches nearly every day," Chaney said of her freshman year experience.

She went to a specialist in food allergies and was injected with about 200 distinct substances to test her reactions. Since then, she has stayed away from the blacklisted foods, including wheat, cocoa, black tea, turkey, corn, and some types of nuts and seafood.

"It's really not that bad; I've gotten used to it," she said in an email. "Although my roommate just loves eating a cookie in front of me and telling me how good it is."

Chaney is among a contingent of students with mild-to-severe allergies who spend part of each day checking ingredient lists to ensure that they don't suffer an allergic reaction.

Peter Johnsen, a physician at McCosh, noted that last year the health center dealt with at least 60 students who had significant food allergies.

He suspects that there might be more instances of food allergies in the student body, but they "don't have a good way to get at the data," he said in an email.

Johnsen said a major concern regarding food allergies is the possibility of an anaphylactic reaction, which affects various systems in the body and is life-threatening.

"We probably have half a dozen or so of these potentially life-threatening events annually," Johnsen said.

The frequency of food allergies is increasing, according to a 2006 report by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health (NIH). The NIH has reported that 6 to 8 percent of children and 3.7 percent of adults have food allergies.

To accommodate the needs of these students, Dining Services has banned peanut oil in its kitchens and always notes the presence of nuts when labeling food products. The Dining Services website also provides nutritional information for all food served in the dining halls.

Sue Pierson, assistant director of Dining Services, said they are able to accommodate all food allergies. The staff will often replace allergens with alternative ingredients if such ingredients exist.

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"If there's no alternative, we can work with [the students]," Pierson said. She also noted that the dining halls can create special meals and keep them plastic-wrapped in storage for students who cannot find anything appropriate to eat.

The dining halls are not equipped to deal with any allergy-related emergencies, but Pierson said that students with severe allergies carry their own medication, which their friends usually know how to administer.

"I have noticed recently that they are doing a better job of labeling foods in Frist and the Whitman dining hall, and they have also been selling some gluten-free snacks at Cafe Viv," said one senior in an email. She was granted anonymity because she wanted to keep her allergy private.

The senior discovered during her sophomore year that she has celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that is caused by an inability to digest gluten, the protein found in wheat, barley and oats. Therefore, she is unable to eat food made from several common types of grain.

Now she is now part of an eating club where she said her needs are well-accommodated, and she said the environment on campus has become more allergy-friendly.

A survey of the ingredient lists posted on the Dining Services website Tuesday revealed that about one-third of the food served throughout the day contained wheat. Students are also warned that any food produced in the bakeshop may have come into contact with allergens such as nuts.

Marissa Lee '11, who is also a contributor for The Daily Princetonian, is allergic to nuts, but overall has had a positive eating experience so far at the University.

She said she avoids most of the bread served — since the ingredients are not listed — and the salad bar, where the risk of cross-contamination is high.

But there have been a few problems, Lee said. She occasionally feels itchy after a meal, which signals the presence of an allergen. Nonetheless, she said, "the dining staff have been really helpful and are always willing to prepare something separate for me to eat."

Dining staff are required to take a course about food allergies run by the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, a group working to increase awareness and understanding of food allergies. The course begins with a woman's story of how her son died at a party after eating a dish that a waiter mistakenly claimed did not contain nuts.

The staff has been cautioned to never discuss the ingredients in food unless they are sure of what they are saying.

Pierson tries to meet all of the incoming freshmen who identify themselves as having food allergies to discuss how Dining Services can accommodate them. Students who recently have learned that they have allergies are guided by the staff on important dining information.

University Health Services encourages students who have previously had anaphylactic reactions to carry epinephrine with them and provides training on how to inject the medicine.

"We flag their chart to ensure that clinicians will be aware," Johnsen said. "We also provide a training session for our clinicians and our inpatient nurses early in the academic year relating to the emergency management of anaphylactic reactions."

Pierson said it is up to new students to work with the dining staff to find out what Dining Services can do to help.