Jul 13, 2026 · 30 min · 11 segments
Jaime and Matt connect with Dr. Kelly Cleary of FARE to unpack the emergence of Alpha-gal syndrome and its growing impact on chefs, restaurants, and menu development around the world. The conversation…
Kelly ClearyGuest
Matt BrittHost
Jamie SchickHost
And I'm a mom to four kids, one of whom has multiple anaphylactic food allergies.
So that is what sparked the passion for food allergy and brought me here today.
And I'm really excited to talk about AlphaGal because we are seeing numbers spike and we're seeing a lot of people in the community who have questions and are asking about it.
And I'm so excited to learn a little bit more about this too, because growing up in New Hampshire in the woods, we were always told, check yourself for ticks whenever you go outside, especially this time of year.
But it was always because of the concern for Lyme disease and not necessarily for alpha-gal syndrome, which we are hearing about a lot today, which creates this allergy to red meat or mammal products.
Correct, and it's really interesting because I'm sure in your world, you've dealt a lot with food allergies, right? So patrons coming in that declare a food allergy and you know and recognize what that is.
Well, alpha-gal syndrome is actually a food allergy that is triggered by a tick bite.
So now this is actually a food allergy that is caused after a tick bites someone.
And it's caused by this carbohydrate, that is alpha, this carbohydrate that is galactose alpha-1,3-galactose, otherwise known as alpha-gal.
But what happens is the tick makes that carbohydrate, bites a human, and humans don't have that carbohydrate.
And now the concern really does extend beyond Lyme disease and to alpha-gal with tick bites.
And it's so crazy to think about, because maybe it's just me, but when I think about food allergies, I think about people living with food allergies for a long period of time.
And alpha-gal has the ability, obviously with no known cure, to impact someone who's well into their life.
There's a lot of, like, transition that has to happen based on this tick bite, which, you know, honestly can happen anywhere.
And I'm a mom to four kids, one of whom has multiple anaphylactic food allergies.
So that is what sparked the passion for food allergy and brought me here today.
And I'm really excited to talk about AlphaGal because we are seeing numbers spike and we're seeing a lot of people in the community who have questions and are asking about it.
And I'm so excited to learn a little bit more about this too, because growing up in New Hampshire in the woods, we were always told, check yourself for ticks whenever you go outside, especially this time of year.
But it was always because of the concern for Lyme disease and not necessarily for alpha-gal syndrome, which we are hearing about a lot today, which creates this allergy to red meat or mammal products.
Correct, and it's really interesting because I'm sure in your world, you've dealt a lot with food allergies, right? So patrons coming in that declare a food allergy and you know and recognize what that is.
Well, alpha-gal syndrome is actually a food allergy that is triggered by a tick bite.
So now this is actually a food allergy that is caused after a tick bites someone.
And it's caused by this carbohydrate, that is alpha, this carbohydrate that is galactose alpha-1,3-galactose, otherwise known as alpha-gal.
But what happens is the tick makes that carbohydrate, bites a human, and humans don't have that carbohydrate.
And now the concern really does extend beyond Lyme disease and to alpha-gal with tick bites.
And it's so crazy to think about, because maybe it's just me, but when I think about food allergies, I think about people living with food allergies for a long period of time.
And alpha-gal has the ability, obviously with no known cure, to impact someone who's well into their life.
There's a lot of, like, transition that has to happen based on this tick bite, which, you know, honestly can happen anywhere.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
