grocer's itch

English

Noun

grocer's itch (uncountable)

1. (medicine) An itching eruption, a variety of eczema, produced by sugar mites (Tyroglyphus sacchari or Glycyphagus domesticus) or fruit mites (Carpoglyphus lactis et al.).
   • [2018 November, Deborah Blum, “When Milk Was Full of Calf Brains”, in The Atlantic‎:

     “Flour” routinely contained crushed stone or gypsum as a cheap extender. Ground insects could be mixed into brown sugar, often without detection; their use was linked to an unpleasant condition known as “grocer’s itch.”]

References

• Tyrophagus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• “grocer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.