All about Allergens for Children’s Education and Care (CEC)

All about Allergens for Children’s Education and Care (CEC)

About this course

This course is designed to help children’s education and care (CEC) providers and staff to gain knowledge and understanding about food allergens, and to develop best practice procedures to ensure the right food is given to the right child.

Who this course is for

This course is suitable for kitchen staff (cooks and chefs), educators and teachers working in:

  • Long daycare
  • Family daycare
  • Preschool or kindergarten
  • Outside school hours care
  • Vacation and occasional care
  • Other education and care services

This course is also applicable to services where all children bring their food to the service. Even when food is being provided, there are still requirements to store food and supervise children eating. 

This course should be completed by staff and volunteers who:

  • Make decisions about suitable menu items such as menu planning, choosing recipes, choosing suppliers and placing orders.
  • Prepare food, including educators preparing food in rooms with children as a planned learning experience.
  • Serve or supervise children eating and drinking.
  • Are likely to be asked about ingredients or allergens in foods.

Course modules and learning outcomes

There are four units in this All about Allergens course. Learning outcomes are assessed with short end of unit quizzes and a longer final assessment.

Unit 1: Food allergy and children’s education and care services

  • Understand food allergy and the consequences of serving the wrong food to a child with food allergy. 
  • Know the difference between a food allergy, a food intolerance and coeliac disease.
  • Be able to list the common food allergens in Australia.
  • Recognise symptoms of an allergic reaction and what action to take.
  • Understand the responsibilities of the child’s parent, staff and CEC service.
  • Apply tools to check food allergen management practices in your service.

Unit 2: Communication and supervision for allergy management   

  • Understand the importance of communicating with parents and CEC staff about children’s food allergies.
  • Identify common ways that young children might be exposed to foods they are allergic to.
  • Identify and implement strategies in the workplace to ensure that the right meal or drink is served to the right child with food allergy.
  • Understand how to report incidents related to food allergy.

Unit 3: Menus and food labels

  • Provide accurate information to parents about food allergen content of menu items when asked.
  • Understand food labelling laws in Australia for packaged and unpackaged foods.
  • Be able to identify food allergens in products, recipes, packaged foods, ingredient lists, meal components, condiments and garnishes.

Unit 4:  Practical management of food allergens

  • Know how to prepare foods suitable for children with food allergy.
  • Identify and manage areas of possible cross contamination in food service.
  • Identify strategies in the workplace that can minimise the risk of an allergic reaction.  

Course length

This course takes approximately 1 to 1.5 hours to complete. 

Your progress is saved along the way, so you can stop and come back to the course at any time. It is recommended you complete the course within 2 weeks.

How often to undertake this course 

You should undertake this training at least every 2 years.

Latest version

All about Allergens for Children’s education and care (released 4 March 2023)

To start this course Register or enrol

Older versions

All about Allergens for Children’s education and care (released 7 June 2021| superseded 4 March 2023)

Last modified: Saturday, 4 March 2023, 8:49 AM