What are the Most Common Food Allergies?

An allergy is created when the immune system responds to a substance that it thinks is harmful – and the result is an allergic reaction. These substances can be anything from pollen to peanuts and they’re known as allergens.

How familiar are you with the common types of food allergens?

The 14 Allergens

Most food allergens can be sorted into 14 groups. They are as follows:

• Celery – celery and celeriac.
• Cereals Containing Gluten – pasta, bread, crackers, and seasonings.
• Crustaceans – shrimp, lobster, and crab.
• Eggs – all types of eggs.
• Fish – fish and other fish products.
• Lupin – pizza, pancakes, and products containing crumbs.
• Milk – all dairy products.
• Molluscs –octopus, oysters, and snails.
• Mustard – all foods containing mustard.
• Nuts – all nuts. Eg. almonds, cashews, chestnuts, pecans, pistachios etc.
• Peanuts – peanuts and all peanut products.
• Sesame – sesame seeds and sesame oil.
• Soy – soya, tofu, soy sauce, and soybean.
• Sulphites - sulphur dioxide and other sulphites.

You Are Not Alone!

The chance of you having an allergy is actually very high - in the UK at least one in three residents are known to suffer from an allergy of some kind and at least 2 million people have been diagnosed with a food allergy. So if you’re experiencing allergic reactions it’s extremely important that you know what you are allergic to.

And there are ways of testing this! If you’re sneezing, have a runny/blocked nose, red/itchy/watery eyes, or are getting a rash from a substance, you can contact your GP and they will assess whether you are allergic to said substance. They’ll do a skin prick test which is both quick and painless, so children can also get it done without any trouble too.

Unfortunately, there are no cures for food allergies and the only way to manage a food allergy is to completely avoid the allergen that causes a reaction. This can prevent some people from having a healthy balanced diet because it can be an inconvenience to find substitutes for the foods that they’re allergic to. But it can be a lot simpler than you think…

The Big Eight Nutrients

Food companies’ always bear allergies in mind when they create their packaging!

Have you ever read the side of the bottle of a fizzy drink or the back of a cereal box? If yes, you’re probably familiar with the “big eight nutrients” that appear on the nutrition label. 

The simple layout allows you to easily glance at some of the main nutrients that are needed to achieve a balanced healthy diet. This is the perfect tool for any allergy sufferer that wants to maintain a balanced diet. The Big Eight Nutrients are; Energy, Carbohydrates, Sugars, Fat, Saturated Fat, Fibre, Protein, and Salt.

The Science Behind Allergies

When we’re exposed to an Allergen, an Antigen Presenting Cell vacuums up new Antigens and presents them to other cells. The T cells then send a signal out that turns on our “B cell antibody factory” which pumps out IGE Proteins that bind specifically to the allergen. These IGE proteins then bind onto a Mast Cell (for the next time that the allergen enters the body), and when that happens, the body makes a chemical called Histamine. You’re probably familiar with this process involving pollen, but some foods have high histamine levels, which can cause a runny nose, redness in the nose, and irritated eyes. These high-level histamine foods contain - and are not limited to - shellfish, beans, nuts, chocolates, salty snacks, and pickled foods.

Our Range of Courses

Here at iHASCO, we offer a range of online Food Safety & Hygiene courses, such as Food Allergy Awareness, Food Hygiene Level 1 Online Course, Food Hygiene Level 2 Online Course and Food Hygiene Level 3 Online Course. If you work in schools or care for children, then you may also be interested in our online anaphylaxis training.

This course is CPD accredited for customer satisfaction when it comes to choosing a reliable online training provider. The course is very clearly laid out and is easy to follow. It takes around 35 minutes to complete. Towards the end of September, an updated version of the course will be released to incorporate Natasha's Law (which comes into effect on 1st October 2021). You can read more about it here.