NICE guidance on food allergy focuses on children, with its Clinical Guidance 116, "Food allergy in under 19s: assessment and diagnosis" published in 2011.¹⁷ NICE also published Quality Standard 118 on Food Allergy in March 2016.¹⁸

CG116 explains how to spot the symptoms of suspected food allergy. Then, depending on which reaction is suspected, it suggests a skin-prick test for IgE-mediated allergies, and dietary restrictions for non-IgE mediated allergies.

The Primary Care Group of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) has published guidelines on the management of young children with suspected and confirmed cow's milk protein allergy.¹⁹ There is also a NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary on cow's milk protein allergy in children.²⁰

NHS Choices advises that the most effective way to prevent food allergy symptoms is to remove the allergen from the diet. While removing peanuts or eggs is not going to affect nutritional status significantly, eliminating cow's milk means extra attention should be paid to ensuring adequate calcium intake, for example, from leafy green vegetables.⁴

It also advises people to read food packaging labels carefully. Food labelling requirements for packaged food are required to identify 14 ingredients that should be labelled as allergens:²¹

• Celery and celeriac
• Cereals containing gluten
• Crustaceans
• Eggs
• Fish
• Lupin
• Soya
• Milk
• Molluscs
• Mustard
• Nuts
• Peanuts
• Sesame seeds
• Sulphur dioxide/sulphites (commonly used in dried fruits, soft drinks, wine, beer, processed meat or vegetable products).