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History of Food Allergy in Canada

By k.m.macdonald

  • Term "anaphylaxis" invented

    Charles Richet and Paul Portier invent the word 'anaphylaxis' after discovering life threatening response to certain proteins and medications.
  • The word "Allergy" is coined

    The word "Allergy" is coined

    Baron Clemens von Pirquet coins the term "allergy" to mean altered reactivity.
  • Intradermal skin testing introduced

    Intradermal skin testing introduced

    Robert Cooke introduces intradermal skin testing.

  • Role of heredity in allergies discovered

    Robert Cooke and Albert Vandeveer demonstrate that children of allergic parents are more likely to have an allergy.
  • First reference of a nut allergy

    First reference of a nut allergy

  • Elimination Diet created

    Dr. Albert Rowe first proposes the elimination diet, where allergic patients remove a suspected allergen from their diet for a period of a few months to see whether their health improves.
  • Soybean discovered as a possible food allergen

    Soybean discovered as a possible food allergen

    W.W. Duke points out soybean as a food allergen after observing people taking soymilk formula as a milk substitute.

  • First Antihistamine drug

    Daniel Bovet synthesized the first antihistamine drug.
  • Sesame introduced as an allergen

    Sesame introduced as an allergen

    L. Rubenstein adds sesame to the allergenic foods list.

  • Allergy in Infants first discussed

    Dr. Irving Moore notes that 383 out of 1000 infants seen at his practice have a food allergy. The most common food allergy was milk.
  • IgE antibodies first discovered

    IgE antibodies first discovered

    Teruka and Kimishige Ishizaka first discover Immunoglobulin E antibodies which play an important role in allergic reactions.

  • Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act

    First extensive regulation for the labelling of consumer goods, particularly prepackaged food in Canada. The label must provide the common name of the product, the name and address of the party who packaged the food, a list of ingredients, durable life dates.
  • Double Blind Food Challenge introduced

    Double Blind Food Challenge introduced

    Dr. Charles May creates the first double blind food challenge where the patient and the doctor are unaware that there is allergens in the food the patient is eating.
    (Photo courtesy:The Providence Journal)
  • First Epinephrin Auto-injector goes public

    First Epinephrin Auto-injector goes public

    Shel Kaplan modifies a military auto-injector to administer epinephrin, creating the first EpiPen.
  • Food Allergy Anaphylaxis Network Created

    Food Allergy Anaphylaxis Network Created

    Nonprofit organization FAAN is founded. FAAN is dedicated to increasing awareness of food allergies and reactions.
  • Sabrina's Law takes affect

    Sabrina's Law takes affect

    Sabrina Shannon's Radio DocumentaryA law passes in Ontario that requires school boards to have principals implement anaphylaxis plans for their schools which include life threatening allergy training for teachers and staff. This comes after Sabrina Shannon, a 13 year-old student living in Ontario, died after an anaphylactic reaction caused by cross contamination in her school cafeteria.

  • New transparent food labelling regulations

    Health Canada decided to force manufacturers to write the common name of food allergens in ingredient lists.