Uncommon food allergens
More than 170 foods are known to have triggered allergic reactions. Some food allergies are less common compared to others making it difficult to find the information you need to know about what food is safe to eat and how to communicate your food allergen to other people, including waitstaff when eating out.
While it can be challenging to have an uncommon food allergy, there are steps you can take to help manage this.
Confirm your diagnosis
Not all reactions to foods are due to an allergy, some may be due to a food intolerance. To read more about allergy versus intolerance click here.
If you think that you have had an allergic reaction to a food, it is important to make an appointment to speak with your General Practitioner (GP). If your GP believes it is a food allergy, they will ask you to avoid the food and they should refer you to an allergy specialist. To read more about diagnosis of food allergy click here.
Packaged foods – reading food labels
What do the laws say in Australia?
In Australia, by law, packaged food and drinks must declare the most common food allergens in the ingredient list. The foods that cause 90% of allergic reactions to food are: milk, egg, peanut, almond, Brazil nut, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, pistachio, pine nut, walnut, sesame, soy, wheat, crustacean, mollusc, fish and lupin.
What if your food allergen is not one of the common ones?
In Australia, all ingredients in a product must be listed in the ingredients list. An exception to this is if the ingredient is not a common allergen and it is part of a compound ingredient (a compound ingredient is made up of two or more separate ingredients) that makes up less than 5% of the final product. If so, it is not required by law to be listed in the ingredient list.
An example of a compound ingredient that could make up less than 5% of the total food is tomato paste (e.g. contains tomatoes, salt, sugar and herbs) which is an ingredient in the pizza sauce on a frozen pizza.
Ingredients can also be listed as a group. For example, “spices” could be listed without naming which spice, making it difficult to know exactly what the product contains. For someone with a specific spice allergy (such as mustard or paprika), it would be safest to avoid the product. You could also contact the manufacturer listed on the label of the product to ask about the exact contents of the product and whether there is any risk of cross contamination. Be aware that sometimes the actual spice used can change.
Similarly, fruit powders such as kiwifruit can sometimes be used in a meat rub. The ingredients list will not state which fruit has been used and will just state “fruit powder”. If you have a kiwifruit allergy and the ingredient lists “fruit powder”, you will need to be careful even if you have eaten the product before as the type of fruit used may not always be the same.
It is important to check the ingredients every time you purchase a product. Even if you have checked and the food was “safe” in the past, manufacturers can change ingredients and processes at any time.
Communicating your food allergy when eating out
Eating out can be a challenge for anyone with food allergies.
What are food businesses required by law to do?
If you tell food service staff about your food allergy, and the food business has agreed to provide you a meal, by law you must be given a meal that does not contain your allergen(s).
It is important to always clearly tell food service staff about your food allergy for example, saying “I am allergic to [x], can you provide me a meal without [x]?”
If the food does not have a label (for example food sold at the counter in a cafe or at the delicatessen in a grocery store) then food service staff need to provide you with accurate information about common allergens when you ask for it (they can show you information on common allergens in that product or tell you about them). So, if you ask, “does this muffin contain egg, as I have an egg allergy?”, the food business must provide you with correct information on whether the muffin contains egg. This then allows you to decide on whether or not to buy the food.
Can you ask for a guarantee?
Food businesses cannot guarantee that a meal does not contain an allergen. As many companies and people are involved in the supply of ingredients, they need to trust information they have been given is correct. However, when you tell food service staff about your food allergy, they should do their best to give you food that does not include your allergen. This includes reading all labels and using best-practice cleaning for food allergens, storage, food preparation and serving practices.
More tips on eating out:
- Use the A&AA Chef Card to list the food allergen(s) you must avoid. 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. The chef card allows you to write or print your allergens on the card, so it can also be used for uncommon food allergies.
- Always tell staff about your food allergy (even if you have eaten the same food at the same place before). The chef may be different or ingredients in the dish may have changed.
- Do not assume the dish you ordered in one restaurant will be the same in another restaurant as recipes for the same meal can be different. Always tell food service staff about your food allergy.
- Know which places or dishes may be high risk for you. For example, someone with a particular fruit allergy (e.g. kiwifruit) might avoid ordering fruit salad or going to juice bars.
- Eat simply – for example, choose grilled/baked food cooked in a clean pan, with only a few ingredients without adding sauces that may contain your allergen.
- If you do not have your adrenaline (epinephrine) injector (such as Anapen® or EpiPen®) with you, DO NOT EAT!
- If you are ordering food online, write your food allergy on the website or app every time you place an order. Try to call the restaurant you are ordering from and give them your allergy information over the phone as well.