Food Families/ Cross Reactive Foods

Foods that may cross react with allergens to cause other reactions

Food Allergics must also be mindful of what as known as, Food Families.

How this chart works:                                          

If you are allergic to ________then be careful of or avoid____________ because it could cross react with the actual food allergen. 

The only way to know for sure if one of these is also causing a cross reactive action is to avoid all foods in the food family for at least 30 days- some doctors recommend up to 6 months and then begin a reintroduction process,  one food at a time. (According the Southern California Asthma, Allergy & Immunology Clinic) Food reintroduction process should be done with doctor's permission and never alone. 

 **************Not recommended for kids**************

Allspice: Allspice, myrtle, guava, clove pimiento

Apple: Apple, pear, quince

Aster: Lettuce, chicory, endive, escarole, artichoke  dandelion, sunflower seeds, tarrago, ragweed, insecticide pyrethrum


Avocado: Avocado, laurel, cinnamon, bay leaves, sassafras

Blueberry: Blueberry, huckleberry, cranberry

Buckwheat: Buckwheat, Rhubarb, garden sorrel

Cashew: Cashew, pistachio, mango

Chocolate: Chocolate, cocoa, cola

Citrus: Orange, lemon, grapefruit, lime, tangerine, kumquat, citron, citric acid

Coconut: Coconut, palm, date

Dairy: Beef, pork, lamb, rabbit, squirrel, venison, goat or any mammal product. (Most people who cannot tolerate cow's milk cannot handle any mammal product so avoid goat milk as well) 

Fish: Salmon, tuna, sardine, catfish, trout, crappie (be careful/stay away from glue as in Elmer's glue) 

Fowl: (Egg is not included unless it is from laying hens) Chicken, turkey, duck, goose, guinea, pigeon, quail, pheasant

Fungus: Mushroom, yeast, mold, antibiotics

Ginger: Ginger, cardamom, turmeric

Gooseberry: Currant, gooseberry

Goosefoot: Beet, beet sugar, spinach, swiss chard, lambsquarter, mexican fireweed, russian thistle

Melon: Watermelon, cucumber, cantaloupe, pumpkin, squash, and other melons

Mint: Mint, peppermint, spearmint, thyme, sage, horehound, marjoram, basil, savory, rosemary, balm, catnip

Mustard: Mustard, turnip, radish, horseradish, watercress, cabbage, kraut, chinese cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, collards, kale, kohlrabi, rutabaga 

Mollusk: Oyster, clam, abalone, mussel 

Okra: Okra, cottonseed, mallow

Onion: Onion, Lily, garlic, asparagus, chives, leeks, sarsaparilla


Parsley: Parsley, carrot, parsnip, celery, anise, dill, fennel, angelica, celery seed, cumin, coriander, caraway

Pea: Peanut, pea (black eyed, field, green), bean (navy, lima, pinto, green, soy), licorice, acacia, tragacanth

Plum: Plum, cherry, peach, apricot, nectarine, wild cherry, almond

Potato: Potato, tomato, eggplant, peppers, green pepper, red pepper, chili pepper, parika, cayenne, capisicum, tobacco, belladonna, stramonium, hyoscamine

Sesame: sesame seeds, peanut, rye, kiwifruit, poppy seed, tree nuts (hazelnut, black walnut, cashew, macadamia, pistachio

Shellfish (Crustacean): Crab, lobster, shrimp

Strawberry: Rose, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, dewberry, loganberry, youngberry, boysenberry

Walnut: English walnut, black walnut, pecan, hickory nut, butternut

Wheat: Wheat, corn, rice, oats, barley, rye, wild rice, cane, millet, sorghum, bamboo sprouts, grass

All materials posted on this site are subject to copyrights owned by Centered Table Co. LLC & IFAMA

Any reproduction, retransmissions, or republication of all or part of any document found on this site is expressly prohibited, unless Centeredt Table Co. has explicitly granted its prior written consent to so reproduce, retransmit, or republish the material. All other rights reserved 2012-2020.