Names: David D'Atre and Charles "Luke" Heater Category: Chemistry Abstract: ​Food allergies affect millions of Americans. Every year, allergic reactions to various foods prompt at least 30,000 Emergency Room visits. Shellfish allergies are among the most common allergenic foods—and most dangerous. An economic and convenient method of identifying foods containing shellfish would unquestionably save lives every year, and provide peace of mind to countless other individuals who suffer from shellfish allergies. Shellfish are known to contain high levels of iodine. This experiment tests the viability of using iodine as an allergen indicator for shellfish in foods by using potassium iodide and amylose starch as reactants. In the presence of iodine, a prepared indicator solution would turn dark purple. In the present study, however, the method proved ineffective at detecting iodine in shellfish. Of all the materials tested, only pure iodine demonstrated visible results from the indicator. None of the tested shellfish—shrimp, crab, crawfish, or lobster—demonstrated any reaction with the indicator solution. The results suggest that because the indicator was not reactive enough to detect iodine in pure, isolated shellfish, it would also fail to identify small quantities of shellfish within a more complex dish, rendering it useless as an indicator. Thus, iodine is not a viable indicator for the presence of shellfish. Current methods of testing for the presence of shellfish by identifying the protein saxitoxin are in production, but need further refinement in order to become economically viable. Future research should be directed toward this end.