If you don't have a life-threatening allergy, you are truly blessed. You can eat what you want with no worries, you can enjoy a spring day without lugging around an Epi-pen in the event you're stung by something. You can live your life without worrying if your allergy is going to pop up somewhere unexpected. But if you don't have a life-threatening allergy, chances are you don't realize how dangerous cross-contamination can be.
Cross contamination is defined as the process when materials or microparticles transfer from one object to another. And it sucks. It absolutely sucks. Imagine you order your favorite dish.
In the kitchen, your food was prepared on a surface where a nutty dish had just been prepared. Boom. You have an allergic reaction. It's that easy and can happen to anyone with an allergy.
Allergies are on a large spectrum. Everyone who has a nut allergy doesn't react the same way. Everyone who has an insect allergy doesn't react the same way. I'm incredibly lucky. While I am highly allergic to tree nuts (anaphylaxis and possibly death if ingested), when I come in contact with them through my skin I merely break out in hives. However, someone else can have a worse reaction from merely coming in contact with their allergen.
This morning I was in the gym. I was doing my typical arm work out when all of a sudden that familiar itch came about. Within seconds my neck had broken out in hives and was as red as a stop light. I can only induce that the person who used the dumbbells before me had been eating nuts and when I went to move my necklace my hand transferred some of the particles onto my neck.
The point of this article is not to place irrational demands onto the public to watch their every move regarding common allergens, but to merely bring awareness to the cross contamination issue that so many people face on a daily basis.
In my hometown a little over a decade ago, a couple was having a picnic and the boyfriend (who had just eaten a PB&J) kissed his girlfriend who was highly allergic to nuts.
Within minutes she was dead. When I am in the cafeteria I see people carelessly use tongs meant for some type of nutty dessert to move a non-nutty dessert around. What people don't realize is even that simple act of using tongs that have come in contact with nuts on a different food without it can trigger a reaction.
You don't have to change your entire life. It is not your responsibility to watch out for people with allergens. But as a social duty, you should inform yourself of the dangers of cross-contamination and what to do if someone around you is having an allergic reaction.