The Norwegian National Reporting System and Register of Severe Allergic Reactions to Food

Authors

  • Martinus Løvik
  • Ellen Namork
  • Christiane Fæste
  • Eliann Egaas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v14i2.238

Abstract

The Norwegian National Reporting System and Register of Severe Allergic Reactions to Food, or the Food Allergy Register, is a nation-wide, government-funded permanent reporting and registration system for severe allergic reactions to food. The Food Allergy Register collects information based on a one-page reporting form, serum samples for specific IgE analysis, and food samples for food allergen analysis. Reporting physicians receive in return an extensive commentary on the reported case and the relevant allergies, and results of the specific IgE analysis and food allergen analysis.

The Food Allergy Register has, after being active for a little more than four years, given valuable information about several important aspects of food allergy in Norway. The Food Allergy Register has revealed food safety problems in relation to allergy that probably could be discovered only with the help of a systematic, nation-wide registration of cases. The reactions of peanut allergic individuals to lupine flour in bakery products is an example of how the Food Allergy Register is able to reveal potentially serious problems that would otherwise probably have gone unnoticed and certainly unexplained. The amount and the value of the information from the Food Allergy Register are increasing as new reports of more cases are added. The typical Norwegian patient with a severe allergic reaction to food appears to be a young adult, female rather than male. The offending meal is consumed at a restaurant or fast-food stand or in a private party away from home, and peanuts, nuts and shellfish are among the most common offending foods, while fish allergy appears to be rather rare.

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Published

2009-10-13

How to Cite

Løvik, M., Namork, E., Fæste, C., & Egaas, E. (2009). The Norwegian National Reporting System and Register of Severe Allergic Reactions to Food. Norsk Epidemiologi, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v14i2.238