History of allergology: food allergies - diagnosed for the first time 100 years ago - first case of a fatal allergic food reaction 25 years ago

The following article presents some milestones and tidbits of the findings in the area of food allergy and food allergens made in the past 100 years. In 1912, the American pediatrician Oscar Menderson Schloss (1882 - 1952) was the first to demonstrate an allergy to food using scratch testing. He also described the procedure of oral desensitization using food (albumen and milk). The phenomenon of "catamnestic skin reactions", the identification of celery allergy, unusual pathways of food allergy induction (e.g., "derivative allergy"), allergies induced by kissing, and "connubial allergy" will also be presented. Finally, the phenomenon of fatal food allergies, which is known since the 1980s, will be pointed out.