Allergen Action

• allergen fact sheet
• food products and labels
• Eatwell Guide poster
• access to a recipe website

Warm up

Lesson about allergens:

• bring in food packaging and try to identify the allergens
• explain how they're identified in the ingredients
• introduce labelling and how foods are labelled for allergens

Research

Using the allergen fact sheet, research foods/meals in supermarkets, recipe books and menus that contain each of the fourteen allergens. Discuss these in class.

Class discussions

• pupils share their own experience of allergies
• discuss the responsibility of others with regards to allergens – do’s and don’ts

Practical

• pupils cook an allergen free recipe

• pupils investigate recipes they eat that may have ingredients identified as allergens, then propose alternative ingredients for the recipe that are not allergens
• pupils design a food label to highlight an allergen in a product

Art – design a food label

Cross contamination – awareness of using items that have come into contact with food related allergens

First aid – what to do if someone has an allergic reaction

SAY – identify all or most of the allergens

SAY – explain how allergens are highlighted on food labels

DO – design a food label with re-designed allergy information

Observations

Alternative recipes

Consider CfE Benchmarks, for example

• evaluates information on food packaging and uses it to make informed choices when selecting food for given situations

Support

Use pictures of different food ingredients and match to allergens.

Challenge

• investigate other less common allergens in foods
• plan an allergen free menu of meals for a week
• what action to take if someone takes a food related allergic reaction