Food Allergy Awareness Month

May is Food Allergy Awareness Month in Canada and there are many exciting things we have planned this month to increase awareness and education of food allergies across the country.

Food allergy is one of the leading causes of potentially life-threatening anaphylactic reactions and a growing public health concern in Canada, especially among children. Approximately 2.6 million Canadians are affected by food allergy, and 1-in-2 Canadians households are impacted by food allergy. As there is no way of predicting how severe an allergic reaction may be and no known cure for food allergy, avoidance of allergenic foods is the only means of staying safe. In addition to food, there are allergen risks from medication as well as insect stings, which become especially important during the warmer months.

The following events have been confirmed for Food Allergy Awareness Month. Stay tuned for more events and activities to be launched soon!

Events

Webinars:
- NEW! Starting on May 23rd, attend our public webinar on food allergy basics. This session is a must for parents of children with food allergies! Learn more and register today.
- We also have small group webinars to review food allergy basics for parents of children who are newly diagnosed with a food allergy, or for anyone who wants a review of the basics. Find out more and register for a session!
2017 Teen Workshop: We are hosting a grand slam event for teens with food allergies on Sunday, May 28, 2017 in Toronto! Our annual teen workshop will feature a fun-filled morning with interactive presentations, lively discussions, and team-building activities led by our Youth Advisory Panel, followed by an afternoon trip to the Toronto Blue Jays Game where seats are reserved in the peanut/nut-reduced section.Registration is now open. Space is limited, so register now to ensure you secure your spot. Learn more and register today!
Community awards: We will announce the winners of the Robyn Allen Leadership Award and the Pryde Family Travel Grant this month.
Lighting of national monuments: Monuments across Canada will light up teal in support of Food Allergy Awareness Month! We’ll be adding more to the list, so stay tuned! If you live in one of these areas, please take photos, share them on social media using the tag #allergyaware, and share them with us too!

Location	Date
BC Place, Vancouver, BC	May 16, 2017
Dome at Science World at Telus World of Science, Vancouver, BC	May 20, 2017
Vancouver City Hall, Vancouver, BC	May 20, 2017
High Level Bridge, Edmonton, AB	May 18, 2017
Reconciliation Bridge (formerly Langevin Bridge), Calgary, AB	May 20, 2017
Welland Bridge 13, Welland, ON	May 15, 2017
CN Tower, Toronto, ON	May 20, 2017
3D Toronto Sign, Toronto, ON	May 20, 2017
Toronto City Hall Towers, Toronto, ON	May 20, 2017
Civic Clock Tower, Mississauga, ON	May 20, 2017
Peace Bridge, Niagara, ON	May 20, 2017
Niagara Falls, Ontario/New York	May 20, 2017

What you can do to support allergy awareness

You can spread allergy awareness in a number of ways throughout the month.

New! Paint it TEAL
- Paint one fingernail teal in May to show your support for food allergy awareness and education. Post your picture, share it with us, and tag it using #allergyaware. Our friends from Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia started this campaign, let’s make it global to show support for all individuals with food allergies.
Take AllergyAware.ca courses
- Take an AllergyAware.ca course where you learn the basics of food allergy, learn the signs and symptoms of a reaction, and what steps to take if a reaction occurs.
- Share the AllergyAware.ca course with your child’s school, childcare facility, or other members of the community (like your child’s sports team, babysitter, grandparents, etc.).
Take a survey (men, 18+)
- We want to better understand the needs of men with food allergies and the support they may require. If you are an adult man (18+) with food allergies, please take 5 minutes to complete this survey. If you know a man with food allergies, please share this survey with them! Learn more and take the survey.
Help your child’s school become more allergy aware
- Share our elementary and high school resources with your child’s school. You can also refer them to our educators page for more resources.
Encourage more foodservice establishments to be allergy aware
- Thank the foodservice establishments (restaurants, cafes, bakeries etc.) that do a great job at being #allergyaware. You can tag your favourite establishments through social media and send them the thank you badge we’ve created to let them know that you appreciate all that they do to provide safe options for our community. You can also print out the badge and present it to the staff when they’ve done a great job at being allergy aware.
Donate to Food Allergy Canada and help save lives.
- Please donate to help us raise awareness and education throughout your communities so you are better supported and ultimately stay safe. Learn more about the significant impact you can make.

Stay tuned for more activities we’ll launch throughout the month!

Past events – what’s already taken place for Food Allergy Awareness Month

Live Event: Food Allergy Q&A – How we live with food allergies. On May 3rd, in Winnipeg, there was a great live event featuring a panel of young people with food allergy, Thomas Miles, a CFL Winnipeg Blue Bomber and food allergy advocate, and Dr. T. Gerstner, a Pediatric Allergist on how to manage food allergies. The event was hosted by The Children’s Allergy & Asthma Education Centre and Food Allergy Canada.
Adele, leader of FAS Durham, her son, and Kyle Dine

Live Event: Celebrating Children with Allergies – Family Event. Hosted by Food Allergy Support Durham, this event on May 6th featured a live concert by Kyle Dine, activities for kids, door prizes, and giveaways. It was a great event that drew over 115 people to celebrate and support children with allergies!
Webinar. On May 15th, we hosted a webinar that reviewed food allergy, anaphylaxis, and stock epinephrine. We’ll be posting a recording of the webinar soon, stay tuned!