Food Intolerance – Roles for Autonomous Transportation

One of the major shortcomings of our food system is the unavailability of foods to meet the needs of people with specific food needs.

Last night we had friends over for dinner, and they prefer gluten-free and organic foods. Our local grocery store doesn’t carry the necessary ingredients for our dinner, so we drove 45 minutes each way to a larger grocery store to get meat and other things. I decided to try a gluten-free berry buckle with fresh blueberries. The recipe called for rice-flour, so we had to go to a specialty store to find that. The recipe also called for gluten-free baking soda, but I decided that was over the top, since fortunately our friends aren’t seriously allergic to gluten. The dinner was a success, and our friends appreciated the effort to honor their preferences.

Our Chevy Volt achieved 104 mpg, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been for the environment if we had taken our old Honda Pilot which only get 21 mpg.

We have a lot of friends with various food allergies and food sensitivities. The “big 8” food allergens affect about 15 million people in the US and account for 90% of all food allergic reactions:  milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, fish, and shellfish. This ignores the other 1.5 million people who are allergic to other foods. Food allergies cause 30,000 visits to the emergency room and over 200 deaths each year. 

Although more than 160 foods have been identified to cause food allergies in sensitive individuals, the "major food allergens" account for 90 percent of all food allergies. Allergens other than the major food allergens are not subject to FALCPA labeling requirements.

Worse, it ignores the even larger number of people who are sickened by various foods but don’t happen to produce the Immunoglobin E antibodies that are counted for “food allergies”. If you happen to be one of the affected people, but not one of the 15 million, then you don’t get much help from the food system because foods are only mandated to mention the big 8 allergens.

Some of our friends are sickened by corn. You might think that all they have to do is avoid eating corn to be safe.  But just think about how many foods list corn syrup, as a sweetener. Look at something like baking soda, and you will see cornstarch listed as an ingredient — that rules out most baked goods. Most animals raised for food are fed corn in one form or another — yes, that can sicken corn-sensitive people too. Now you start to see the magnitude of the problem.

I know one child who woke up sick because his father had returned from the movies with a piece of popcorn stuck unnoticed to his shoe. And since corn isn’t one of the big 8, it isn’t mandated to be included in food labeling.

People who have one food intolerance typically have more than one, and intolerances can change over time. There is no known cure. This makes finding foods even more challenging because of the “hidden” ingredients. And even if you find a safe food, the manufacturer may change the ingredients without warning.

So how do you deal with this life-limiting situation? 40% of children have their activities limited by allergies. 

The Internet allows groups of people to compare experiences and share information to find foods that are safe. Then you have to find a source for those foods — they typically aren’t carried in your local stores, plus they tend to be more expensive — my rice flour cost $4.35 for 24 ounces, while 90 ounces (5 pounds) of regular flour costs about half that.

Often you have to prepare your own food from basic ingredients to avoid additives. This is both expensive and time-consuming.

Some of my corn-sickened friends grow their own chickens and feed them expensive grains so they can eat eggs. Another important aspect of local farming I have been talking about.

How can our Autonomous Vehicles help this vital situation? Inexpensive delivery would be a big help making specialized foods accessible, and saving time and money. Easy delivery, and the smart-apps make it feasible for someone to prepare a specialized food, such as both corn- and soy-free mayonnaise, to choose a real example, and then share it with others, either for free or for a price.

This would facilitate the growth of communities of people who can share information and foods. Often people don’t realize that their problems are food related: many of my friends have related that it has taken them years to diagnose their problems, and most doctors are not helpful, so this sharing is more than just finding foods.

Transportation could also enable these communities to become physical communities, with people moving to live in specific allergen-free physical communities. Easy transportation allows them to get to work, school, and other aspects of daily life.

Imagine choosing your home based on commonality with your neighbors to promote health. Intentional community formation will be a major theme in my consideration of Sustainable Communities.