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It is the first week of term, the school has sent home a note saying the classroom is nut free, and you are standing in an aisle turning packets over trying to work out what that actually rules out. Every parent who walks into our Maroubra shop in late January is doing some version of this.
Here is the honest version of how allergen labelling works in Australia, and what we keep on the shelf that tends to survive a school day.
Two different things appear on an Australian pack, and only one of them is required by law.
The ingredients list and allergen summary are mandatory. If a product contains tree nuts or peanuts as an ingredient, it has to say so, in bold, in plain English. This part you can rely on.
The "may contain traces" line is voluntary. That statement is a manufacturer telling you about cross contamination risk in their factory. There is no legal standard behind the wording, which is why you will see "may contain", "made on equipment that also processes" and "made in a facility with" all meaning slightly different things. A product without that line has not necessarily been tested. It may just mean the manufacturer chose not to print it.
Two more things worth knowing. Coconut is not a tree nut botanically, but some schools and some allergy plans treat it as one, so check your school's rules rather than assuming. And recipes get reformulated without much fanfare, so a bar that was fine last winter is worth re-reading now.
We cannot certify any product as nut free, and neither can a shop assistant. The pack in your hand is the only thing that counts, because batches and recipes change. If your child has a diagnosed allergy, read every label every time, and take your allergy plan as the final word.
These are the ones parents come back for. Read the pack for your own situation, but they are a sensible place to start looking.
A few notes from behind the counter. The Blue Dinosaur bars are made from coconut, dates and banana with nothing else in them, which makes the ingredients list refreshingly short to read. The Orgran crispibread holds up better than a sandwich on a hot day, and it does not go soggy if you send avocado in a separate pot. Prunes sound like an old fashioned choice until you have a child who will not eat anything green.
Half the battle is the container. A leaking yoghurt lid will put a kid off a whole food group. We keep stainless containers, silicone pockets and beeswax wraps in Food and Drink Storage, and the Reusables range covers the bits that get lost every term.
If you want to browse the whole lot, Back to School is where we group it in January, and Lunch Box and Snacks run all year.
Genuinely, bring the school's note in. We are at 936 Anzac Parade in Maroubra, seven days, and it is much faster to stand in front of the shelf with someone than to squint at ingredient lists on your phone. If your child has a specific allergy we will read the packs with you.
