Food allergies can be a problematic issue. You might get hives, itching, swelling or even respiratory distress when you eat something that is not suitable for you. It is especially difficult to cope with food allergies when you travel. Therefore, we need to find ways of traveling with food allergies that let you enjoy your vacation or conduct your business travel without the need to suffer from allergic symptoms. This article will let you know how to do this.
Common food allergies
According to FAI, the Food Allergy Initiative, there are approximately 11 million people in the US with food allergies. This amounts to around 2% of the whole adult population and 8% of children under three. Lactose intolerance is one of the most common ailments with 30-50 million people in the US affected. Another food related ailment is celiac disease with 2 million people affected.
Travel is growing
There are some 100 million travelers to and from the US each year. An amount of people this large will be bound to have a significant number suffering from food allergies.
Airlines
The first place where you need to worry about your food allergy is usually the airplane. What do airlines offer to make your food allergy easier to cope with?
Many airlines offer a variety of meals catering to different requirements. Often these are based on religious, diabetic, vegetarian or low fat meal plans. There are also gluten and lactose free alternatives available. If you are allergic to selfish or peanuts make sure if these are used in the meals on the plane because often these allergies are left unnoticed by the airlines.
Labels
While traveling it might be more difficult to know what it is that you eat because the labels on the packages might be on a language you do not understand. Try either getting them translated or, alternatively, try using brands you are familiar with so that you know what you are eating.
Hygiene
In some countries the level of hygiene is not very good. Therefore, make sure that you are eating in a place with a minimum amount of cross contamination between foods. This might occur if same crockery is used to prepare different dishes without washing or if hands are not washed. This might lead to small amount of allergen inducing food group in a dish where it does not belong.
These are the first considerations to think about when traveling. A well prepared trip is usually more enjoyable, especially if allergies can be avoided.
