Food Allergies

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, in order to protect the body. These chemicals trigger a cascade of allergic symptoms that can affect the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, or cardiovascular system.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), approximately 5 million Americans, (5 to 8% of children and 1 to 2% of adults) have a true food allergy. Many people with any type of food sensitivity have food intolerances. Fewer people have true food allergy involving the immune system. 

Although an individual could be allergic to any food, there are eight major food allergens, including milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (such as walnuts and almonds), soy, wheat, fish and shellfish. These eight foods are the most common food allergens and cause more than 90 percent of all food allergic reactions. Among children, allergy to dairy and eggs are most common.  Research indicates that reported allergies are increasing.

While we say Alpine Ice as free of soy, dairy, wheat, egg and nuts, in actuality our products are free of all 8 of the common food allergens.

People with allergies should always read labels carefully (even ours)!  We take extra care to make sure our ingredients are completely free of the big 8 allergens and their derivatives. However, we do manufacture Alpine Ice in a facility and on machinery that is also used to process products containing soy, wheat, dairy, egg, peanuts and tree nuts.  In order to reduce the chance of cross contamination, we follow good manufacturing practice guidelines for storage, cleanliness and equipment usage.  All machinery and equipment is rigorously cleaned (some of it twice) before we use it.