Abstract
The allergy induced by Glupearl 19S (Katayama Chemical, INC., Osaka, Japan) included in the facial soap Cha no Shizuku (Yuka, Fukuoka, Japan) has been recognized as a major public health problem in Japan. In the literature, cases of allergy to hydrolyzed wheat protein (HWP) started to be reported by European doctors from about 2000. In Japan, the outbreak of HWP-related wheat allergy began in about 2009, and the company started a voluntary recall of the HWP-containing soap on 25th May, 2011. After the voluntary recall, the allergy induced by this soap was widely reported by the media, and in the meantime the problem has come to be recognized by the general population. Studies are in progress to elucidate the reasons why the soap induced such a large-scale allergy problem. In this article, we will review the recent findings published in Europe and Japan regarding the allergy induced by HWP.
