Sesame free diet

Total avoidance of sesame seeds is essential if you have an allergy to sesame seeds.

Sesame seeds can be found in foods all around the world. India, Pakistan, China, North and South America, North and South Africa, Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Europe all use sesame seeds in their cooking.

In Australia, sesame seeds are used in many food products and dishes, so particular care needs to be taken for someone with a sesame allergy.

• Whole seeds can be sprinkled on a variety of dishes for extra crunch and flavour. They are also used raw in some dishes.
• Ground sesame paste or tahini is used in both sweet and savoury dishes, and is an ingredient in both hummus and halvah, two popular Middle Eastern dishes.
• The oil from white and brown sesame seeds is used as a cooking and flavouring oil and black sesame seed oil may be used in small amounts for flavouring as well.

It pays to learn the words for sesame in your own language so that you can identify sesame in recipes and on food lists.

Avoid these if you are allergic to sesame:

• Benne
• Benne seed
• Gingelly seeds
• Pasteli
• Sesame oil (also known as gingelly or til oil)
• Sesame
• Sesame salt (gomasio)
• Sesame seed, black or white
• Sesarmol
• Sesomolina
• Sim sim
• Tahina
• Tahini (Sesame Paste)
• Til

Some people can tolerate a small amount of sesame in foods, while others need to avoid it completely. Discuss this with your doctor.

If you need to completely avoid sesame, check food labels to ensure you know which foods contain sesame. Ask your doctor if you also need to avoid foods labeled 'may contain sesame'.

Products which might contain sesame include:

Eating out needs to be managed carefully but there is no reason why you can't enjoy eating away from home. Look out for:

• sesame seeds on top of buns
• sesame paste, tahini or humus as a spread in some wraps
• stir-fries and curries
• international (Chinese, Thai, Asian) and vegetarian foods

Good options: grilled or roasted meat or fish, plain rice or potato, steamed or roasted vegetables.

When booking into a restaurant, always speak with the person responsible for preparing the food.

For more information

• http://kidshealth.chw.edu.au/fact-sheets/#Allergy
• Australian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA)
• FSANZ - Food Standards Australia and New Zealand for information on food labelling