Peanuts have played an important role throughout history, from their use by the Incans in burial rites to becoming a globally produced crop with 47 million metric tons annually. Although peanuts have been around for centuries, it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that peanut allergies doubled and became a major part of the global rise of a major food allergy epidemic.

What caused such a drastic increase in the peanut allergy in such a short amount of time?