How do I make a kitchen safe for a severe nut allergy?

The instinct in a household with a severe nut allergy is to remove nuts from the house, and where that is possible it is the simplest answer. Where it is not — visitors, other family members, shared kitchens — the risk moves to cross-contamination, which is much harder to see and is where nearly all accidental exposures actually come from.

Safety

Step by step

1. Decide first whether the house can simply be nut-free.For a severe allergy, particularly in a child, removing the allergen from the home entirely is by far the most robust option and is what many households do. Everything below is for the situations where that is not possible.
2. Close route one: shared equipment.Chopping boards, knives, colanders, blenders, food processors, tongs, baking trays. A rinse is not cleaning — these need hot soapy water and a clean cloth. Anything with grooves, scratches or a seal that cannot be dismantled (a blender gasket, a scratched wooden board) is better replaced than cleaned.
3. Close route two: shared cooking medium.Frying oil, boiling water, a toaster, an air fryer basket, a barbecue grill. Cooking does not destroy food allergens, so heat does not clean anything. Fresh oil, fresh water, a separate toaster or toaster bags.
4. Close route three: hands and cloths.The fastest route of all. Hands washed with soap and warm water — hand sanitiser gel does not remove food proteins. Fresh cloths and clean tea towels; a sponge that wiped a peanut butter knife will spread it round the whole kitchen.
5. Close route four: dust and settled particles.Ground nuts and nut flours hang in the air and settle on every surface. If nut products have been used, wipe surfaces down properly before preparing the safe food, and never prepare it in a kitchen where someone is currently baking with nut flour.
6. Close route five: storage and shared jars.Store nut products below and away from the safe food, never above it, so nothing falls or drips down. Give the allergic person their own labelled butter, spread, jam and chocolate spread, because a knife that has been in peanut butter contaminates a whole tub instantly.
7. Close route six: serving.Separate serving spoons, dishes that do not touch, and their plate served first before anything is passed round. A garnish of toasted nuts added at the last moment by someone who did not know is a classic and preventable incident.
8. Cook the safe food first, and cover it.Clean kitchen, clean equipment, the allergy-safe food made before any nut product is opened, then covered and set aside. This single sequencing rule closes several routes at once and costs nothing.
9. Brief everybody, including visitors and children.Anyone who cooks in the kitchen needs to know the rules, and anyone bringing food into the house needs to be asked. A written list inside a cupboard door helps. Children's playdates, birthday parties and grandparents are where the gaps usually are.
10. Have the emergency plan ready and visible.Two in-date adrenaline auto-injectors kept where they can be found, everyone in the house knowing where they are and how to use them, and a written allergy action plan on the fridge. Practise with a trainer pen — this is not something to work out during an emergency.

Tips

• Colour-code the safe equipment. Visible separation survives other people using your kitchen far better than a rule does.
• Peanuts are legumes and tree nuts are a different group; many people react to one and not the other, and some react to both. Get the specifics from the person or their allergy clinic rather than assuming.
• Anaphylaxis UK publishes practical guidance and product alerts and is a better ongoing reference than any single article.
• Sesame, lupin flour and soya are common companions in the same free-from decisions. Check whether the allergy list extends further than nuts.

Common mistakes

• Wiping a surface so it looks clean — A visible amount is not required for a reaction, and a dry wipe redistributes protein rather than removing it. Hot soapy water and a clean cloth, or a fresh disposable one.
• Telling someone a small amount will probably be fine — There is no safe small quantity in a severe allergy, the size of a previous reaction does not predict the size of the next one, and nobody outside the person and their clinician is in a position to make that judgement. Never say it.
• Relying on hand sanitiser instead of washing — Alcohol gel kills microbes; it does not remove food proteins from skin. Only soap and water does that, and it is a common and consequential misunderstanding.

Questions people ask