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Approximately 2% of adults and 8% of children in Israel suffer from food allergies.
According to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, “A food allergy is an immune system response to a food that the body mistakenly believes is harmful. Once the immune system decides that a particular food is harmful, it creates specific antibodies to it. The next time the individual eats that food, the immune system releases massive amounts of chemicals, including histamine, to protect the body. These chemicals trigger a cascade of allergic symptoms that can affect the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, and/or cardiovascular system.”
In some cases, this can lead to a serious reaction called anaphylaxis, affecting multiple organs, rapid in onset and may cause death.
A food allergy is not an illness, rather a fact of life to be managed with vigilance and care.
This vigilance includes:
*Recognizing the symptoms of an allergic reaction
*Educating caregivers and teachers about medications (Epipens) and symptoms
*Making well-intentioned friends and relatives understand just one bite of an offending food can lead to unspeakable consequences.
For those with food allergies, ingesting even a small amount of an offending food can be dangerous. What most of us might take for granted – that packaged foods are safe – is a source of stress for parents of food allergic children. What if a manufacturer mislabels a packaged food? At restaurants, other dangers can be present: did the waiter understand the severity of the allergy? Was the chef told to avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen, not to use the spoon from a butter-based sauce in preparing a meal for a customer with a milk allergy?
One tragic example occurred in our own backyard. Sixteen-year-old Bar Cohen was severely allergic to all milk products. She didn’t let that get in the way of socializing with her friends. One day, she went to a party at a friend’s house. After eating a potato pastry, she fell ill and within 20 minutes was unconscious. She did not have her life-saving Epipen (epinephrine injector) and tragically, Bar died. It appears the potato pastry had been cross contaminated with cheese from a similar pastry baked in the same facility. But even that minute amount of milk protein posed a danger.
With the hope of helping families faced with the food allergy challenge, YAHEL was founded. In Hebrew, our acronym stands for Yeutz ve’hadracha le’allergiot mazon, or advising and educating about food allergies.
Our goals include:
1. Working with Israeli government ministries including the Ministry of Education (to train teachers to recognize allergic symptoms and medications), the Ministry of Trade & Industry (to standardize safe and comprehensive food labeling), the Ministry of Health (to ensure universal, adequate emergency care and anaphylaxis treatment), and the National Insurance Institute (to lobby for equitable access to resources). We believe that by educating the proper authorities, there is no reason for parents to avoid placing their children in daycare, kindergarten, or school for fear that lack of awareness could lead to tragedy.
2. Educating large and small food manufacturers on the importance of accurate labeling of the ingredients that cause the majority of allergic reactions (“the major allergens”).
3. Raising public awareness: individuals with food allergies need the cooperation of their communities to stay safe.
4. Setting up local support groups where parents of food allergic children can network and share resources and information.
YAHEL is committed to the notion that every food allergic individual is entitled to lead a full life, without the fear of simple pleasures most take for granted: a safe day in school, the freedom to buy packaged food, eat in restaurants, and go on vacation.
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