Peanut

Peanuts are a delicious food that are very nutritious and can be included as an important part of a healthy diet. However, for people allergic to peanuts, completely avoiding peanuts may be the only way to manage your allergy.

Currently, there is no cure for food allergy. Strict avoidance of the food a person is allergic to is the only way to prevent an allergic reaction.

However, there are new treatments such as oral immunotherapy (OIT) that can increase the amount of a food a person can eat before they have an allergic reaction. Most OIT in Australia is done as part of research trials. OIT must be done under the medical supervision of an allergy specialist as there are strict guidelines and some people can experience anaphylaxis during the treatment.

Peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies in childhood, affecting 3% of infants up to the age of 12 months in Australia. Research shows that by six years of age around 30% of children outgrow their peanut allergy. Peanut allergy is one of the common food allergies affecting adults.

What is it?

Peanuts are legumes likes peas and lentils. Peanuts are different to tree nuts, such as almonds and cashews, because they grow under the ground. People with peanut allergy are not always allergic to tree nuts as the proteins in peanuts are different to proteins in tree nuts.

What foods and products contain peanuts?

To safely manage your allergy, it’s important to recognise peanuts in their different forms and to know which foods contain them.

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.

Avoidance of peanuts is important if you have a peanut allergy. Peanuts can be found in many foods and as an ingredient in many products. Download our food allergen card to your phone or print and place on your refrigerator at home. This allergen card contains examples of the foods and products that may have peanut.

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 about food content after you have told them about your food allergy.

How to recognise peanut in its different forms

To help people with peanut allergy recognise peanut in its different forms, we worked with Nuts for Life to develop a helpful fact sheet (in download section below) which shows peanut in its shell, unshelled, crushed, etc.

Parents can use this fact sheet to teach their children what peanuts looks like in their forms.

Please note: this factsheet is a guide only and does not contain a complete list of all foods that contain peanuts.

Managing your peanut allergy

• Look for your allergen in the ingredients list, and for precautionary allergen
  labelling on packaging. Check ingredients each time you buy the food because
  they can change.
• Don’t rely on menu descriptions when ordering foods and drinks at restaurants.
  Tell food service staff about your allergy, and ask about ingredients, preparation
  and cross contamination risks.
• Check for peanuts ‘hidden’ in food and drinks such as meals or flours, butters,
  essences, milks, alcoholic drinks, and oils.
• Check ingredients of cosmetics and skin creams as they sometimes contain peanuts

Peanut kernel

Peanut kernel is covered with a thin brownish-red
layer and can be split into half.

Peanut shell

Peanut shell has a thick, wrinkled, brown outer layer.