Current Events in November 2021

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending that all adults get a booster shot to protect themselves against the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

The announcement came within hours of President Biden directing both the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use the fastest methods possible — but without cutting any corners — to get such vaccines approved and on the market if needed. 

The CDC’s latest recommendation is a bit stronger than it was before the Omicron variant became a factor. Previously, the CDC’s advice surrounding boosters was focused on adults 50 and older or living in a long-term care facility. Now the agency says everyone 18 and older should get a booster.

Omicron’s wanderlust

South Africa was the first country to alert global health officials about the Omicron variant, but Dutch officials have now stepped forward to say they found an Omicron case that predated South Africa’s discovery. 

On Tuesday, France and Japan reported their first case involving the variant. The Netherlands and France sounding the alarm is important because it signals that the Omicron variant is already winding its way through parts of Europe.

As for the U.S., the CDC said it is continuously monitoring variants using the country’s variant surveillance system, which has reliably detected new variants when they emerge. “We expect Omicron to be identified quickly, if it emerges in the U.S.,” the agency said in a statement.

New variant could affect the travel industry

With the Omicron variant growing as fast as it is, travel industry analysts are already questioning just how much it will impact travel. Some fear that conditions could go back to where they were a year ago when travelers were forced to scuttle their hopes of getting back to traveling. 

Lebawit Lily Girma -- an analyst for travel analysis site Skift -- said individual nations are going to have to be more proactive about travel this time around. 

“As the Covid pandemic continues to threaten the travel industry’s recovery, the message is clear for travel leaders in the world’s largest source markets. The same ardor they’ve placed on pushing for lifting restrictions and resuming global travel these last two years, must go to pressuring the U.S. government and the European Union to urgently act on global access to Covid vaccines now. Until then, as Omicron has just reminded us, tourism remains more vulnerable than ever,” Girma said.

Biden agreed with that sentiment quickly when he placed a ban on travel from South Africa, but he said that is not the cure-all move.

“Travel restrictions can slow the speed of Omicron, it cannot prevent it,” he said.

The phone call claims to be from Amazon. A computer-generated voice says the recipient’s Amazon account has been charged $1,275 for a Macbook Pro and a pair of AirPods. It provides a prompt to be able to cancel the order.

But hold on -- why does Amazon think the order is fraudulent? Why couldn’t the recipient of the call have ordered a computer and AirPods, as thousands of Amazon customers do each day? The reason is that it isn’t Amazon calling you. The whole thing is a business imposter scam, one of the countless schemes that have sprung up during the holiday season to trap busy shoppers. 

In this case, the fake call from Amazon is designed to panic the victim into providing their real account username and password, resulting in a very real unauthorized purchase sometime in the future. Scammers may also try to gain remote access to a consumer's phone or computer to purportedly help with a refund. 

After getting their hands on the victim’s sensitive personal information, these fraudsters raid bank accounts or make phony purchases—often in the form of untraceable gift cards—in the customer's name.

Phony emails and texts

Scammers are currently sending out emails and texts that claim to come from a store where the intended victim recently shopped. The Better Business Bureau has received reports of scammers sending out fake surveys that appear to come from Walmart, Target, or other major retailers that promise a free gift in return for completing the survey.

According to BeenVerified, this kind of scam is more common than ever. The company analyzed over a quarter million phone spam complaints nationwide in 2021 and found that more than 17% of complaints were related to business imposter scams. 

Online shoppers should always verify the email address or phone number of someone who is contacting them about an online order; you can’t automatically assume the contact information is valid. Never reveal personal information like a Social Security number or credit card information.

According to the analysts at BeenVerified, scammers impersonating employees of Amazon, Apple, CashApp, and others have grown increasingly smarter and bolder, even going so far as claiming that they’re calling from fraud prevention departments. The analysis found that Amazon was the most impersonated company and is being used by scammers nearly 50% of the time. Apple was the second-most used, at nearly 25%.

“As two of the largest online retailers in the United States, Amazon and Apple's seemingly endless customer bases became prime prey for scammers, providing a large and trusting pool of targets,” Kerry Sherin, a spokesperson for BeenVerified, told ConsumerAffairs. “Harnessing the ubiquity and recognition that comes with brand names like these, criminals are able to evade what might normally set off someone's radar and then steal both money and personal information from victims.”

What to do

There are ways to recognize these fake calls, emails, and texts for what they are. In the case of the call from “Amazon,” a quick check of your actual Amazon account should show no such charge is pending.

Consumers can also do a quick Google search to find the support number for any major company or retailer and compare it to the area code and number of the caller. 

If there are links in an email, don’t click on them. Instead, you can just hover the cursor over the links. The text may say “Amazon,” but the actual URL could be a strange combination of numbers or letters.

Finally, keep your wits about you and rely on common sense. A retailer would never need your Social Security number to verify your purchase. If the caller is asking for any personal information, hang up and report the incident to both the retailer and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Several previous studies have highlighted how consumers have foregone seeking medical care over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now a new study conducted by researchers from Erasmus University Medical Center explored just how prevalent this trend was. Among the team’s study population, more than 20% of participants avoided seeking health care during the pandemic. 

“One in five avoided health care during COVID-19 lockdown, often with alarming symptoms like chest pain or limb weakness,” said researcher Silvan Licher. “Vulnerable citizens were mainly affected, emphasizing the urgent need for targeted public education.” 

Pandemic nerves halted health care visits

For the study, the researchers surveyed over 8,700 participants enrolled in the Rotterdam Study in April 2020. Participants answered questions about coronavirus-related symptoms, how they utilized the health care system, the medications they took, and their overall mental and physical health. 

More than 20% of the participants reported avoiding health care during stay-at-home orders in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it’s unclear how severe all the symptoms that were being ignored were, more than 35% of participants reported some symptoms that typically require immediate medical attention, like heart palpitations and arm or leg numbness.  

It’s also important to note that some groups were more likely to skip seeing doctors during these critical times. Consumers who are worried about contracting COVID-19 have been less likely to seek out medical care during the pandemic. The same was true for those struggling with anxiety and depression, older consumers, and those who were unemployed.

Avoiding health care could cause future problems

The researchers worry about how this trend has already affected consumers’ health and what it will mean for future health outcomes.

“Findings of our study suggest that health care avoidance during COVID-19 may be prevalent amongst those who are in greater need of it in the population, such as older individuals, those with low perceived health, and those who report symptoms of poor mental health,” the study authors wrote. 

“These findings call for population-wide campaigns urging individuals who are most prone to avoid health care to reach out to their primary care physician or medical specialist to report both alarming and seemingly insignificant symptoms.” 

If someone asked you which company runs the biggest delivery service in the U.S., which one would you say? Well, by early 2022, one Amazon executive said his company will be overtaking both FedEx and UPS.

The online retailer was already close to that goal. It delivered more than 3.5 billion packages the year before the pandemic, which was enough to make its shipping business two-thirds the size of UPS.

Now, buoyed by a recent study by Transimpact that showed 32.2% of consumers are doing more than half of their holiday shopping on Amazon, the company has never been in a better position to take the lead.

“We expect we will be one of the largest carriers in the world by the end of this year,” Clark said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “I think we’ll probably be the largest package delivery carrier in the U.S. by the time we get to the end of the year, if not in early ‘22.”

Building slowly but successfully

Ever since 2013, when Amazon trusted other carriers to deliver its packages and wound up with a holiday shipping catastrophe, the company has been investing in its logistics and fulfillment operations.

In fact, Amazon got so good at the delivery game that it began shipping cargo for third-party companies, reportedly including the U.S. Postal Service. Now, with 400,000 drivers, 40,000 trucks, 30,000 vans, and 70 planes, it’s proven how serious it is about delivery.

“Since they’re servicing delivery routes already, it’s almost all marginal revenue to pick up and deliver third party shipments,” said ViewFromTheWing’s Gary Leff. “That puts them in a position to undercut competitor pricing. They’ve already tested a lower-priced and lower-fee competitor to overnight shipping services in Los Angeles and London.”

Holiday shipping tests Amazon

While Amazon appears to be improving its delivery game, the influx of packages that it will have to handle during the holidays is sure to test its capabilities. One ConsumerAffairs reviewer thinks the company still has some work to do before it’s crowned the king of all delivery. 

“My family and I have two Prime memberships. Overall, my experiences with Amazon have been positive and we have given the company tens of thousands of dollars in business,” wrote Joseph of South Plainfield, N.J. 

“I do understand that the pandemic and the shortage of qualified labor can result in less than perfect results, but packing fragile merchandise in unpadded envelopes is totally unacceptable. In the last two weeks I received three shipments packed in envelopes and in each case the product was damaged. Amazon needs to fix this at once.”

What exactly is causing supply chain bottlenecks that have created shortages and contributed to higher prices? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is launching an investigation to find out.

The agency specifically wants to know if any companies have taken advantage of the situation to raise prices or to engage in “anti-competitive” behavior. It’s asking Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Associated Wholesale Grocers, McLane Co, Inc. Procter & Gamble, Tyson Foods, and Kraft Heinz to provide detailed information about their supply chains and the problems they are facing. 

The FTC points out that this is not part of any law enforcement action. It’s conducting the investigation under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which authorizes the agency to conduct wide-ranging studies. 

“Supply chain disruptions are upending the provision and delivery of a wide array of goods, ranging from computer chips and medicines to meat and lumber,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan.

“I am hopeful the FTC’s new 6(b) study will shed light on market conditions and business practices that may have worsened these disruptions or led to asymmetric effects.” 

Problems started with the pandemic

Supply chain issues began fairly early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the situation hasn’t gotten much better. Container ships are still backed up in West Coast ports like Long Beach and Los Angeles and are waiting to unload.

Factories in Asia were shut down for several weeks because of the virus and have struggled to catch up. A shortage of computer chips reduced the number of new cars for sale in the U.S. and that, in turn, caused used car prices to skyrocket.

The FTC said its investigation will seek to understand how these disruptions have affected different industries and what effect they have had on consumers. The agency will also try to determine whether some businesses are taking unfair advantage of supply chain bottlenecks to increase their competitive advantage. Specifically, the FTC wants to know how supply chain issues are contributing to rising prices.

What the FTC wants to know

To comply with the FTC order, the companies that are contacted will be required to detail the biggest factors disrupting their ability to obtain, transport, and distribute their products. The agency also wants information about the impact these disruptions are having in terms of delayed and canceled orders, increased costs and prices, and the products, suppliers, and inputs that have been most affected.

At the same time, the White House is reaching out to grocers and retailers to learn how supply chain issues are affecting the economy. President Biden met with a number of business leaders on Monday to get their input. A White House official says other fact-finding events will be held later in the week.

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Exeter explored how consumers’ sleeping habits may affect how they view getting older. According to their findings, consistently not getting enough sleep may make consumers feel older than they are and can make them feel worse about aging. 

“As we age, we all experience both positive and negative changes in many areas of our lives,” said researcher Serena Sabatini. “However, some people have more negative changes than others. As we know that having a negative perception of aging can be detrimental to future physical health, mental health, and cognitive health, an open question in aging research is to understand what makes people more negative about aging. 

“Our research suggests that poor sleepers feel older, and have a more negative perception of their aging. We need to study this further -- one explanation could be that a more negative outlook influences both. However, it could be a sign that addressing sleep difficulties could promote a better perception of aging, which could have other health benefits.”  

Changing our outlook on aging

For the study, the researchers surveyed over 4,400 adults over the age of 50 involved in the PROTECT study. The team put together a questionnaire that focused on the participants’ sleeping patterns and asked questions about their quality of sleep, memory function, and motivation, among other key factors. To track how sleep habits affected aging, participants completed the surveys twice with one year in between. 

The researchers learned that participants who struggled with sleep also struggled to have a positive outlook on getting older. The study showed that there were several factors that contributed to poor sleep, including waking up frequently during the night, having difficulty falling asleep, struggling to be alert in the morning, not getting deep sleep, and having poor overall sleep satisfaction. Not feeling awake and alert in the morning was associated with the worst outlook on aging. 

Overall, nearly 50% of the participants reported dissatisfaction with their sleep. This translated to feeling worse about aging and getting older, as well as feeling older than their chronological age. Participants who struggled the most with sleep were the most likely to notice negative changes in their mental and physical health over time. 

Moving forward, the researchers hope that addressing issues with sleep in middle age can help consumers improve their mood, health, and well-being. They also plan to continue doing work in this area to better understand how sleep habits can impact consumers’ relationships with aging.

“This research is an important part of the growing body of evidence about the crucial role of sleep in healthy aging,” said researcher Clive Ballard. “We now need more people to sign up to PROTECT to help us understand this further. We’ve got some exciting trials ahead on how to optimize sleep in some particularly vulnerable groups, such as people with dementia in care homes.” 

Hyundai Motor America is recalling 995 model year 2021 Palisades.

The brake fluid may be contaminated, which can cause the brake master cylinder inner-cup seals to swell and reduce braking performance.

Reduced braking performance can extend the distance required to stop the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.

What to do

Dealers will replace the brake master cylinder and flush the brake fluid free of charge.

Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on December 22, 2021.

Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at (855) 371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 212.

Alsum Farms & Produce of Friesland, Wis., is recalling Alsum Farms & Produce fresh whole yellow onions in 3-lb. bags, 5-lb. bags, and 50-lb. cartons; fresh whole white onions in 2-b. bags; and fresh whole red onions in 2-lb. bags.

The products may be contaminated with salmonella, but no illnesses have been reported to date.

A list of the recalled products -- imported from Chihuahua, Mexico, and delivered to select retailers in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania between July 13, 2021, and August 18, 2021 -- may be found here.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not consume them. Instead, they should discard or return them to the place of purchase for a refund.

Consumers with questions may contact the company at (800) 236-5127 ext. 6703, Monday – Friday from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm (CT).

Chrysler is recalling 185 model year 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulias.

The vehicles may have tires that have a lesser load rating than intended for the vehicle.

Incorrect tires can result in the operator overloading the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash.

What to do

Dealers will replace the tires and update the owner's manual with the correct load rating free of charge.

Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on December 22, 2021.

Owners may contact Chrysler customer service at (800) 853-1403. Chrysler's number for this recall is Y83.

Retailers are counting on a strong Cyber Monday to wrap up their Thanksgiving shopping season. The National Retail Foundation (NRF) stated that close to 2 million additional consumers will have shopped over the holiday weekend when compared to last year.

That amounts to an estimated 158.3 million people, up from 156.6 million last year. However, it’s still about 7 million short of the 165.3 million shoppers in pre-pandemic 2019.

“We’re expecting another record-breaking holiday season this year and Thanksgiving weekend will play a major role as it always has,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Nonetheless, consumers are starting earlier than ever to be sure they can get what they want, when they want it, at a price they want to pay.”

Shay said this year’s uncertainty about the supply chain caused shoppers to order early so they could avoid any potential delays.

“Black Friday stopped being a one-day event years ago, and this year some consumers started shopping for Christmas as early as Halloween,” he commented.

Shoppers opt for the personalized route

Consumers are also changing their tune a bit on what they shop for. Rob Garf, VP and GM of Retail at Salesforce, told ConsumerAffairs that the trends his company is seeing lean toward personalized and relevant engagement during Cyber Week 2021. 

“Retailers are tuning their marketing messages to target consumers over Cyber Week. Our data shows that personalized promotions grew two times faster than generic promotions compared to last year,” he said.

Garf noted that the winners over the Black Friday weekend include:

• Luxury handbags -- Sales were up 47%, with calfskin bags, satchels, and crossbody bags coming in as the most popular selling luxury handbag items.

• Furniture -- Sales were up 40%, with chairs, mattresses, and sofas being the most popular selling furniture items.

• General footwear -- Sales were up 27%, with clogs and boots being the most popular footwear types.

Garf said consumers shouldn’t set their expectations too high when it comes to prices and sales this year. The Average Selling Price (ASP) over Cyber Week (Tuesday-Sunday) is up 13% in the U.S. compared to last year, which is great for retailers. On the flip side, the average discount that U.S. consumers were getting during Cyber Week was 26% off full price, which is down 9% year-over-year.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning Hanukkah observers that scammers are lying in wait to take advantage of them. The agency says there are three major things Hanukkah shoppers should consider before buying gifts online this year:

• Do some homework on the seller before you buy. The FTC urges consumers to search online for both the name of the seller and product, plus words like “complaint” and “scam.” An example of an effective search would look like this: “+(seller) +(product) +complaint +scam” (but without the quotation marks). The agency says consumers should also read reviews about the seller and their products.

• Look at the seller’s refund and shipping policies. On the surface, the FTC says to look for things like who pays the cost for shipping returns, how long a buyer has to return products, and whether there are any other fees a buyer might have to pay. Some unscrupulous sellers hide things in fine print and in policies that are often glossed over by consumers, so make sure the seller’s shipping policy is legitimate. If a seller doesn’t promise a time to send out your order, the rule is that they must ship within 30 days.

• Pay by credit card. Using a credit card gives a consumer an extra layer of protection and more rights to dispute a charge if something goes wrong than other types of payment. “And never buy from sellers that only accept gift cards, money transfers, or cryptocurrency for payment,” says Carly Johnson, a member of the FTC’s Division of Consumer and Business Education.

If you spot a scam or experience problems shopping online, you can report the issue to the FTC at its website here.

Consumers who wait expectantly for a package that never arrives are often left to wonder what happened to it. An incident in Alabama last week may provide a clue.

During last week’s holidays, the Blount County Sheriff’s Department responded to a report that hundreds of FedEx packages had been found in a remote area of the western part of the county.

“I currently have a deputy on a location where it appears 300-400 boxes of assorted sizes have been thrown off a ravine,” Blount County Sheriff Mark Moon posted on Twitter last week. “An area manager from FedEx is en route to the scene. Hopefully, we will have some answers soon.”

Moon later reported that FedEx had sent a truck that picked up all of the packages. Later, FedEx issued a statement of its own.

“The security of our customers’ shipments is a top priority and we are committed to treating our customers’ packages with the utmost care,” the company said in a statement to media outlets. “We are taking steps to recover and transport the affected packages as quickly as possible. In addition to cooperating with law enforcement, we are conducting a review of this situation and will take the appropriate action.” 

The packages were recovered near Hayden, in the northern part of the state and about 30 miles north of Birmingham.

Not that uncommon

It turns out that packages getting dumped in an isolated location instead of being delivered is not an uncommon situation. During the holiday season last year, when COVID-19 kept millions of shoppers at home, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and other delivery services struggled to handle the huge increase in online orders.

Last December, a USPS division in Chicago conducted an investigation after 19 packages were found dumped in a Southwest Side alley garbage can. The investigation determined that the packages were handled by FedEx and never made it to the Mount Greenwood Post Office for processing.

Also in December 2020, the New York Post reported that an Amazon delivery driver was spotted throwing a package into the woods in Logan Township, New Jersey. A sheriff’s deputy reported recovering eleven undelivered packages.

The housing market is showing no signs of slowing down into the end of the year, even as mortgage rates move higher. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that pending home sales jumped 7.5% in October.

Pending sales are based on signed contracts that are expected to close within the next 60 days. Despite the sharp increase from September signings, pending sales were still 1.4% lower than October 2020, which set the bar for late-year transactions.

The NAR previously reported that completed transactions also rose in October when most economists expected the combination of rising mortgage rates and declining inventories to keep buyers shopping for holiday gifts instead of homes.

“Motivated by fast-rising rents and the anticipated increase in mortgage rates, consumers that are on strong financial footing are signing contracts to purchase a home sooner rather than later,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “This solid buying is a testament to demand still being relatively high, as it is occurring during a time when inventory is still markedly low.”

Pending sales were the strongest in regions of the country where home prices are the most affordable. Sales were up 11.8% in the Midwest region and 8% higher in the South.

Mortgage rates are still low by historical standards but have risen over the last couple of months. In mid-September, a buyer with excellent credit secured an average 30-year-fixed-rate mortgage slightly below 3%. By the end of October, the average rate had risen to 3.22%.

First-time buyers face a big challenge

According to Yun, the biggest challenge in the current market hits first-time buyers especially hard. While there is a general shortage of homes for sale, the shortage is greatest in lower-priced, entry-level properties.

The total inventory of available homes at the end of October was about 1.25 million units. That’s down 0.8% from September and 12.0% from October 2020. That poses a distinct challenge for buyers, who often have to compete with each other for available homes.

Another challenge is the rising price of homes. The NAR reported last week that the median existing-home price for all housing types in October was $353,900. That’s 13% more than in October 2020.

While many consumers regularly take aspirin to manage pain, a new study conducted by the researchers from the European Society of Cardiology explored some of the risks associated with the medication. According to their findings, regularly taking aspirin may increase the risk of heart failure. 

“This is the first study to report that among individuals with at least one risk factor for heart failure, those taking aspirin were more likely to subsequently develop the condition than those not using the medication,” said researcher Dr. Blerim Mujaj. “While the findings require confirmation, they do indicate that the potential link between aspirin and heart failure needs to be clarified.” 

Aspirin may do the opposite of its intended use

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from nearly 31,000 participants enrolled in the Heart ‘Omics’ in AGEing (HOMAGE) database. The group recorded how often they were taking aspirin, and the researchers followed them for more than five years to track their health outcomes. They also evaluated the participants’ health records, including potential risk factors for heart failure and the medications they were taking. 

The team found that 25% of the participants were regularly taking aspirin when the study began, and over 1,300 participants developed heart failure by the end of the study. Overall, taking aspirin was linked with a 26% higher risk of heart failure. 

After taking into account heart failure risk factors -- including high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, smoking, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure -- the researchers learned that having at least one such risk factor was also linked with a 26% higher risk of heart failure. Moving forward, the researchers hope more work can be done in this area to confirm these findings. 

“Large multinational randomized trials in adults at risk for heart failure are needed to verify these results,” Dr. Mujaj said. “Until then, our observations suggest that aspirin should be prescribed with caution in those with heart failure or with risk factors for the condition.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Helsinki explored how puppies’ diets can impact their health as they get older. According to their findings, dogs are more likely to develop allergies and atopic dermatitis when they are fed fewer raw foods and more dry foods as puppies. 

“The puppies that had been fed raw tripe, raw organ meats, and human meal leftovers during puppyhood showed significantly less allergy and atopy-related skin symptoms in adult life,” said researcher Anna Hielm-Björkman. “On the other hand, puppies not getting any raw foods, eating most of their food as dry food, i.e. kibble, being fed fruits, and heat-dried animal parts, had significantly more allergy and atopy-related skin symptoms in adulthood.” 

Healthy diets are beneficial for dogs, too

For the study, the researchers analyzed questionnaires from dog owners that included information on more than 4,000 dogs. Dog owners reported on what they fed their dogs when they were between two and six months old, and the researchers tracked their health outcomes into adulthood. 

Ultimately, the researchers learned that puppies’ diets may impact their likelihood of developing allergies and dermatitis later in life. Raw foods were associated with a lower risk of allergies and atopic dermatitis, while dry foods and commercial dog foods were linked with a higher risk of developing allergies. 

The study showed that when puppies’ diets were comprised of 20% commercial foods or 80% dry foods, they were more likely to develop atopic dermatitis or allergies when they got older. Conversely, when 80% of their diets consisted of raw food, they were much less likely to have these health concerns. 

“These findings indicate that it was the raw food component that was the beneficial health promoter, and that even as little as 20% of the diet being raw foods, already gives health benefits,” Hielm-Björkman said. 

More research needed 

The researchers hope that more work can be done to better understand the ins and outs of how puppies’ diets can affect their long-term health. 

“We could see an association between lower prevalence of allergy and atopy-related skin symptoms as adults and serving puppies fresh foods and avoiding processed foods as well as sweet fruits,” said researcher Manal Hemida. 

“That’s a good start for any owner. However, the study only suggests a causal relationship but does not prove it. Diet intervention studies are required to further elucidate the in-depth association between the development of atopy and allergy-related skin symptoms and dietary factors, such as raw and dry foods, human meal leftovers, and the correct dosing of oils.”