Summary Statement 30:

The clinician should consider the diagnosis of oral allergy syndrome (pollen-food allergy) and obtain specific IgE testing to pollens in patients who experience limited oropharyngeal symptoms after ingestion of food antigens that cross-react with pollen antigens. Oral allergy syndrome (pollen-food allergy) is an allergic reaction to certain raw fruits and vegetables causing immediate itching of the mouth, gums, lips and/or throat. This is due to cross-reactivity between proteins in pollens and raw fruits, vegetables and some nuts. This occurs mostly in people with allergic rhinitis (hay fever), especially those who have allergy to birch tree pollen in the spring or ragweed pollen in the late summer or fall. Birch tree pollen can cross-react with foods such as raw apple or raw black cherries while ragweed can cross-react with melons and bananas. This is not a true IgE mediated reaction to the food protein because the reaction typically does not occur after cooking or processing the fruits (apple sauce,