Food Allergy Week Australia: Staying Safe

Quick answer

Food Allergy Week Australia is an annual awareness campaign run by Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, held in the last week of May. Its practical value is the prompt it gives: check your action plan is current, check your adrenaline device has not expired, check the people around you know what to do, and check the information on you is readable if you cannot speak.

Awareness weeks are easy to nod at and forget. This one is worth using, because food allergy is a condition where the difference between a scare and a tragedy is often preparation done weeks earlier — a plan written down, a device in date, someone nearby who knows where it is.

What Food Allergy Week is

Food Allergy Week is an annual initiative of Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, the national support organisation for people living with allergy. It runs in the last week of May each year, and each year carries a different theme — often around eating out, schools, or the everyday social burden of managing an allergy.

Check the A&AA site for the current year’s dates and theme. What follows is the part that does not change.

Food allergy and anaphylaxis, briefly

A food allergy is an immune reaction to a food protein. Reactions range from mild — hives, swelling, stomach upset — to anaphylaxis, a severe reaction involving breathing or circulation that is a medical emergency.

Two things are worth understanding, because both are widely misunderstood:

Severity is not fixed. A previous mild reaction does not guarantee the next one will be mild.
The amount can be small. Trace exposure is enough for some people, which is why cross-contamination is taken seriously rather than treated as fussiness.

If someone is having a severe reaction

Call Triple Zero (000). Follow the person’s ASCIA action plan and give the adrenaline autoinjector if one has been prescribed. Lay the person flat — do not stand them up or walk them anywhere. Full steps are in our anaphylaxis first aid guide.

The allergens that must be declared in Australia

Food Standards Australia New Zealand requires certain allergens to be declared on packaged food labels. The commonly declared ones include peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, sesame, fish, crustacea, molluscs, soy, lupin and cereals containing gluten such as wheat.

Plain English Allergen Labelling

Australian labelling rules changed under Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL), with compliance required from 25 February 2024. Allergens must now be named in plain, consistent terms — “milk” rather than a technical dairy-derived ingredient name — and set out in a specified place on the label. In practice, labels are easier to scan than they used to be, but the habit of reading them every time still matters, because recipes change.

Practical food allergy safety

At home

Read the label every time, including products you buy regularly — formulations change.
Keep the adrenaline device somewhere everyone in the house knows, not locked away.
Check expiry dates and set a calendar reminder before they lapse.
Separate preparation surfaces and utensils where cross-contamination is a risk.

Eating out

Tell them before you order, not after the meal arrives.
Name the allergen plainly and say it is an allergy, not a preference.
Ask how the dish is prepared, especially about shared fryers and grills.
If the answer is vague or rushed, order something else. The awkwardness passes.

Children, school and childcare

Give the service a current ASCIA action plan with a recent photo.
Check the plan is updated when your child’s prescription changes or they change setting.
Teach the child, in age-appropriate terms, to say what they are allergic to and to tell an adult early.
Talk to the parents of close friends — birthday parties are where the gaps show.

Teenagers and young adults

Risk-taking, eating out with friends and not carrying the device are recognised patterns in this age group. The useful conversation is not a lecture but a practical one: carry it, tell one friend where it is and what to do, and never test whether a small amount is fine.

In a severe reaction, you may not be able to explain your allergy.

A MedibandPlus profile keeps your allergens, reactions, medications and emergency contacts readable from a membership number you carry — no app, no login.

See how MedibandPlus works

Part of the Mediband family. Designed in Australia since 2004.

Three things people get wrong

“A little bit will be fine.” For some people it is not, and there is no reliable way to know your own threshold in advance. Testing it during a meal out is the worst possible setting to find out.

“Antihistamines will handle it.” Antihistamines treat mild symptoms such as hives. They do not treat anaphylaxis, and relying on them can delay the treatment that does. If an action plan says to use adrenaline, that is the step that matters.

“Food intolerance and food allergy are much the same.” They are not. An intolerance is uncomfortable and usually dose-related; an allergy is an immune response that can be life-threatening. Using the words interchangeably is part of why allergy requests are sometimes not taken seriously in kitchens.

What to record, and what to wear

Record it	Why
The allergen, named plainly	“Nuts” is vaguer than “peanut and cashew”
What the reaction was	Hives and anaphylaxis are treated as different risks
That you carry an adrenaline device	So someone looks for it rather than waiting
Where you carry it	Seconds matter and bags get emptied
Your other conditions, especially asthma	It affects how a reaction is managed

A medical ID is the practical way to make that findable — see what to put on a medical wristband and what to include in medical records.

Using the week: a ten-minute checklist

Find the adrenaline device. Check the expiry date and that the liquid is clear.
Read the action plan. Is it the current version, and does it match the current prescription?
Ask one person nearby to tell you what they would do. If they hesitate, show them.
Check the school or workplace copy is up to date.
Check your medical ID and record still name the right allergen and reaction.

Related reading: anaphylaxis first aid, asthma first aid, and the 10 most common medical emergencies. To keep your allergy information readable in an emergency, create your emergency profile.

FAQs

When is Food Allergy Week in Australia?

Food Allergy Week Australia is held annually in the last week of May. It is an initiative of Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, the national support organisation, and each year carries a different theme. Check the A&AA website for the current year’s exact dates and campaign focus.

Can a mild food allergy become severe?

Yes. Severity is not fixed, and a previous mild reaction does not guarantee the next one will be mild. That is why an action plan and, where prescribed, an adrenaline autoinjector are kept available rather than judged unnecessary based on past reactions.

Which allergens must be declared on Australian food labels?

Food Standards Australia New Zealand requires declaration of specified allergens, commonly including peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, sesame, fish, crustacea, molluscs, soy, lupin and cereals containing gluten such as wheat. Under Plain English Allergen Labelling, required from 25 February 2024, these must be named in plain consistent terms and in a set place on the label.

What should I say when eating out with a food allergy?

Tell them before you order rather than after the meal arrives, name the allergen plainly and say it is an allergy rather than a preference, and ask how the dish is prepared, particularly about shared fryers and grills. If the answer is vague or rushed, order something else.

What should be on a child's allergy plan at school?

Give the school or childcare service a current ASCIA action plan with a recent photo, and update it whenever the prescription changes or the child changes setting. Teach the child in age-appropriate terms to say what they are allergic to and to tell an adult early, and talk to the parents of close friends, since parties are where gaps appear.

What should I record about my food allergy?

The allergen named plainly rather than as a category, what the reaction actually was, that you carry an adrenaline device and where you carry it, and any other conditions such as asthma that affect how a reaction is managed. Hives and anaphylaxis are treated as different levels of risk, so the reaction matters as much as the trigger.

What do I do if someone is having anaphylaxis?

Call Triple Zero (000), follow the person’s ASCIA action plan and give the adrenaline autoinjector if one has been prescribed. Lay the person flat rather than standing them up or walking them anywhere. Our anaphylaxis first aid guide sets out the full steps, including what to do while waiting for the ambulance.

Sources

Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia — Food Allergy Week — current dates, theme and campaign resources.
ASCIA — Food allergy — clinical information and action plans.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand — Food allergies — allergen declaration and labelling rules.
healthdirect — Food allergies — symptoms, diagnosis and management.
healthdirect — Anaphylaxis — recognising and responding to a severe reaction.

Disclaimer: This article is general information about food allergy awareness, not medical advice, and it does not replace an ASCIA action plan prepared with your doctor or accredited first aid training. Diagnosis, prescriptions and action plans belong with your GP, paediatrician or allergy specialist. In an emergency, always call Triple Zero (000). For non-urgent health advice, call healthdirect on 1800 022 222 (NURSE-ON-CALL 1300 60 60 24 in Victoria, 13 HEALTH 13 43 25 84 in Queensland).