The use of raw foods as skin testing material in allergic disorders.

Frozen foods for skin testing were prepared, stored and used by a simple, practicable, and inexpensive method. The capacity of raw foods to produce immunologically positive skin reactions by the scratch test method was reaffirmed. Storage in the frozen state for several months and thawing immediately before using for one series of tests did not affect the allergenic properties of the material. Raw foods were found to be innocuous to the skin and non-urticariogenic in allergic as well as in non-allergic persons. Raw foods, by the scratch test method, induced true positive reactions of a larger size and in greater numbers than the corresponding commercial extracts in the same series of subjects tested.