What investigations should I consider for a patient with suspected food allergies?

Based on the allergy-focused clinical history, if IgE-mediated allergy is suspected, offer the child or young person a skin prick test and/or blood tests for specific IgE antibodies to the suspected foods and likely co-allergens ¹.

Tests should only be undertaken by healthcare professionals with the appropriate competencies to select, perform and interpret them ¹.

Skin prick tests should only be undertaken where there are facilities to deal with an anaphylactic reaction ¹.

Do not use serum-specific IgG testing in the diagnosis of food allergy ¹.

Based on the results of the allergy-focused clinical history, if non-IgE-mediated food allergy is suspected, trial elimination of the suspected allergen (normally for between 2–6 weeks) and reintroduce after the trial. Seek advice from a dietitian with appropriate competencies, about nutritional adequacies, timings of elimination and reintroduction, and follow-up ¹.