The latest news, trends, analysis, interviews and podcasts from the global food and beverage industry

The danger and long term consequence of eating an unbalanced diet is fed to us on a daily basis, but it has just been revealed that the humble potato, the staple diet to millions, in food intolerance terms, is the safest food in Britain. And that’s official!

The findings come from food intolerance experts, YorkTest.com, who have compiled a list of the safest foods in Britain that offer up the fewest reactions, and the good old spud is up there as the safest bite in town.

According to figures from more than 8,000 patients who took a food intolerance test with YorkTest.com in 2007, less than 1% appeared in the highest intolerance bracket to potato.With all its goodness and nutritional qualities, this makes it a food least likely to be linked with symptomssuch as IBS, migraine, fatigue and eczema.

Based on consumption, the figure is all the more remarkable when you consider that each and every person in the UK eats 200lbs of potato a year, and in total, the UK manages to get through 5.5 million tons a year in the form of chips, roast, mashed, boiled and baked. Whereas some food intolerances appear to be caused by too much of the same food on a too regular basis, the potato is the exception to the rule.

Also on the list of safe foods to eat are: grapefruit (only 0.44% of patients show a positive intolerance), apricot (0.61%), apple (0.61%), barley (0.65%) and lemon (0.68%). Some foods do have fewer percentage reactions to potato, but would significantly increase if they were eaten in the same quantity. 20% of our entire intake of food is potato. A family of four would expect their shopping basket to contain just 13% of fruit. This makes the spud the outright winner, and the safest food in Britain.

Patrick Holford, nutrition expert and bestselling author on health and food-related matters says: “What the list reveals is that, however rare, people do become ill from what they eat. Anybody with a suspicion that their lack of 100% health is to do with food would hardly consider taking potato out of their diet, and so discovering the real and probable cause of ill health by a process of self-elimination can be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack.

“Food intolerance testing takes away the guesswork and usually saves time and money. Eight out of ten people who find their hidden allergies notice a difference in how they feel within weeks.”**