mark@cbosgd.UUCP (08/10/83)
This brings me around to another question. I believe I am allegric to sulfites. For those of you who don't know about them, 60 minutes did a piece on them a few months back. Sulfites (such as Sodium BiSulfite) are chemicals often used as a food preservative. People sprinkle them on salads and fruit in order to make them APPEAR fresh (when in reality they are still wilting). They are also used in homemade wine and possibly some beers. People with asthma are especially prone to sulfite allergies. In my case, I get the symptoms when I eat at certain salad bars. I get a nice salad, eat it, and right about when the main course comes, the symptoms set in. My symptoms are constriction in the throat, severe gas pains in the stomache, increased salivation of a heavy, sticky saliva (which makes things much worse if I swallow it), and hiccups. The gas pains fade in and out for about 20 minutes, then gradually go away. My appitite is gone for the rest of the night. Drinking water helps, eating food makes things much worse. Apparently I have a mild case - for some people this could be fatal unless they get adrenaline immediately! I am unable to get my allergist to test me for sulfites. He says it's a newfangled thing and he won't have the test for 2 years or so. Sulfites are on the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list. This means it's legal for people to put them on your food and not tell you about it. I find that the problem occurs regularly at certain restaurants and does not occur at others. A reasonable hypothesis would be that these restaurants use a sulfite on their lettuce. One restaurant admitted it. However, most of them will swear up and down that they do not. The manager at Ponderosa told me they used to but stopped 3 years ago and he could be fired for using it, so he doesn't. Others point out how fast their salad bar is used up and refilled, and say that there is no need for preservatives with turnover like that. I've avoided the lettuce in some and STILL had the problem. I now suspect that some produce shippers use sulfites and don't tell their retailers. So far, I've determined that Wendy's, Elbys, Brown Derby, and Smugglers Inn, all have sulfites in their salad bars. (Elbys and BD deny it, SI admits it.) Ponderosa does not, except one time I ate there and had a reaction. Any other data would be useful. Perhaps some kind of nationwide list of safe places to eat salads can be compiled. Mark Horton ucbvax!cbosgd!mark