Food allergies occur when your body's immune system overreacts to exposure to a particular food. Food allergy symptoms are most common in babies and children, but in some cases they can appear at any age. Even though allergic reactions are often mild, they can be very severe in some cases causing inflammation of the body's tissues . F oods are responsible for the majority of a llergic reactions and some are listed below; Cow's Milk Eggs Fish Peanut Shellfish Soy Tree nuts Wheat Causes Certain causes put you at great risk for having a food allergy. Immune system An allergic reaction to food involves two components of the immune system. One component is a type of protein, an allergy antibody called immunoglobulin E (IgE), which circulates through the blood and can mistakenly target a certain protein found in food as a threat, causing several chemicals to be released, the most important being histamine that stores up in the other compone