A few years back, folks started showing up in emergency room in the southeast US with hives,swelling or worse and * after eating red meat. For this study researchers looked at three of those cases. And they found it tick bites,specifically those of the Loan Star tick seemed to be the cause.The bitten victim's immune system appears to become senstized to a substance called alphygal. And whereas all the major food allergies are triggered by proteins, the corporate here,alphygal is a carbohydrate. Alphygal is found in the meat and fat of * mammals like cow,sheep or pigs.So eating a burger can expose you to alphygal which activates antibodies and leads to the release of histamines. Researchers say something similar to alphygal in tick saliva may set off the immune system which then goes after the alphygal in meat, and leaves a stesk-lover ticked off.