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By RADHA CHITALE
ABC News Medical Unit

Global cuisines can be a delicious way to experience different cultures. Part of the fun is seeing how different people use exotic and familiar ingredients in uncommon ways.

People often turn to ethnic foods thinking they will be more allergy friendly, but that is not so. Sauces and condiments are a big source of unknown ingredients, many of which could be allergenic.

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But this practice can pose risks for those with food allergies. As the ingredients in a dish become less obvious, the potential to eat an unexpected allergen increases.

“Just because you think that a food is OK, you cannot assume,” said Dr. Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, assistant professor of Pediatrics at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

Nowak-Wegrzyn noted that peanut butter can show up in Asian spring rolls. “It’s not very intuitive,” she said.

While food allergy experts say that people with allergies should apply the same degree of caution to ethnic foods as any other food they might eat, language barriers, unknown ingredients and different preparation techniques can magnify the challenge to express needs and concerns.

And imported products can increase the risk of ingesting something unknown, although Ming Tsai, an allergy advocate and owner of Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Mass., said that most manufacturers require a clear list of ingredients on their products.

But if the standards of a country’s labeling system are unclear, erring on the side of caution is better. Read more….