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Shellfish Allergy Diet

General guidelines for shellfish allergy:

The key to an allergy-free diet is to avoid giving your child the foods or products containing the food to which he/she is allergic. The items that your child is allergic to are called allergens.

A shellfish allergy is an abnormal response of the body to the proteins found in shellfish. In order to avoid foods that contain shellfish, it is important to read food labels.

How to read a label for an shellfish-free diet:

Be sure to avoid foods that contain any of the following ingredients:

  • abalone

  • clam (cherrystone, littleneck, pismo, quahog)

  • crab

  • crawfish, crayfish, ecrevisse

  • lobster, langouste, langoustine, scampi, coral, tomalley

  • mussels

  • squid, snail

  • oyster, octopus

  • scallops

  • molluscs

  • shrimp, prawns, crevette

  • cockle, periwinkle, sea urchin

Online Source: Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=9&sub=20&cont=518
Online Source: Food Allergy Initiative http://www.faiusa.org/?page=shellfish
Online Source: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology https://www.aaaai.org/patients/publicedmat/tips/foodallergy.stm
Online Editor: Chris Kinsey
Online Medical Reviewer: Daphne Pierce-Smith, RN, MSN, CCRC, FNP
Online Medical Reviewer: Lee Jenkins
Date Last Reviewed: 9/15/2009
Date Last Modified: 10/2/2009