Fish is one of the most common causes of food allergy, especially in coastal countries such as Japan. An investigation conducted by the Japanese Government in 1997 reported that fish was ranked second among various causes of food allergy for adults and that approximately 20% of food allergic adults in Japan were sensitive to fish. Several fish species and seafood products are known to cause allergy, and were classified into four groups consisting of (i) salmon, sardine and mackerel, (ii) cod and tuna, (iii) octopus and squid, and (iv) crab and shrimp, by a cluster analysis of immunoglobulin reactivities of children (Tanaka et al. 2000). Scomber mackerel belonging to the family Scombridae are one of the most commercially important seafoods in Japan, where the annual consumption of Scomber mackerel is much larger than that of salmon, sardine, cod and tuna, all of which are also allergenic fish.
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