Within three to five minutes of eating apples, bananas, yogurt, bread, peanut butter, or tuna, a baby boy in Japan developed red patches over both temples and under both eyes. Beef, pork, bacon, carrots, pumpkin and green beans caused nothing at all.
The pattern looked like a food allergy. It was not. Allergists at Kanagawa Children's Medical Center in Yokohama diagnosed bilateral infantile Frey syndrome, a nerve-related condition that makes the face flush in response to eating, and described the case in a report in Pediatric Investigation published on April 24, 2026.
