The tree nut family includes almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts and others. Tree nuts are different to peanuts because tree nuts come from a different plant family.

People who have a cashew nut allergy are often also allergic to pistachio nut (and vice versa) and people with a walnut allergy are often also allergic to pecan nuts (and vice versa).

Two new printable/downloadable versions of food allergen cards are available:

Tree nut allergen card225.79 KB (A4 sized - perfect for downloading and viewing on your device)

Tree nut allergen card113.91 KB (print then trim to wallet size - perfect for when shopping or eating out)

You can also purchase printed food allergen cards from our online shop.

To make eating out a little easier, A&AA has developed a chef card. You can write or print your allergens on the card. When telling the wait staff at a cafe or restaurant about your allergies, hand over your chef card and ask it to come back with your specially prepared meal. You can also obtain chef cards from our online shop.

How to recognise different tree nuts

 To help people with different nut allergies recognise the nut they are allergic to by sight, we worked with Nuts for Life to develop helpful fact sheets which show the nut in its shell, unshelled, crushed, slivered, etc.

Parents can use these fact sheets to teach their children what their tree nut allergen looks like in all its forms. 

REMEMBER: You cannot tell what ingredients foods contain by looking at them, smelling them or tasting them. ALWAYS read labels when eating packaged food and when eating out, ALWAYS tell people preparing and serving food you have a food allergy. Ask them about food content after you have told them about your food allergy.

Go to Tree nut fact sheets

More information on tree nut allergy is available from the ASCIA website.

Content updated September 2023