Traveling to China With Food Allergies: A Practical Guide

Before you fly

• Carry your medications. Follow your clinician's travel and emergency plan, and carry the medications prescribed for you in an accessible place during travel, not in checked luggage. Check airline and customs requirements for carrying medical supplies.
• Get an allergy card in Chinese. A small card or phone note that says your allergen and "I am allergic — please do not include it" in clear Chinese can reduce language misunderstandings. Have both the allergen name and "contains?" / "cross-contact?" framed.
• Tell your airline. Check your airline's allergy policy and meal options in advance. Policies and accommodation vary, so do not assume a special meal is free of your allergen. Reconfirm any arrangement at the gate.
• Learn the key Chinese words for your allergen and for "allergy" (过敏 — guò mǐn) and "I can't eat" (不能吃 — bù néng chī). Even rough knowledge helps in a pinch.
• Know emergency phrases and the location of hospitals near where you'll stay. "我需要去医院" (I need to go to a hospital) is worth having ready.

Why a dish name is never enough

Chinese dish names describe flavor, story, or method — not a full ingredient list (see the dish-names guide). But even a correct ingredient list wouldn't be enough, because allergens hide in places the name never mentions:

• Sauces. Soy sauce (酱油), doubanjiang (豆瓣酱), sesame paste (芝麻酱), peanut sauce (花生酱), and many "house" sauces can contain soy, wheat, sesame, peanut, or other components. One name worth flagging: hoisin sauce (海鲜酱) is a good example of why names mislead — despite the name, it does not necessarily contain seafood. Depending on the product, ingredients may include soy, wheat, sesame, or other components. Check the actual product or restaurant recipe when an allergen matters.
• Cooking oil. Peanut oil (花生油) is used in some Chinese cooking and restaurant kitchens, and the cooking oil used is often not listed on the menu. If peanut oil matters for your allergy plan, ask specifically and follow your clinician's advice.
• Broth / 高汤. Some soups, braised dishes, and sauces may use meat or seafood stock. Shellfish, chicken, or pork bases are possible and may not be listed on the menu.
• Pre-made seasoning packets (预制调味料). Pre-made sauces may contain ingredients that are not obvious from the menu; staff may need to check the product label or recipe.
• Cross-contact. Woks, fryers, utensils, or oil may be shared unless a restaurant has separate preparation procedures. In a busy kitchen, separation is not guaranteed.

So the dish name alone is not enough to assess allergen risk. The sauce, the oil, the broth, and the shared equipment are what matter — and those are exactly the things you must confirm.

How to communicate your allergy

General questions may not identify the specific ingredient or preparation step that matters. Ask about the allergen, oil, sauce, broth, and shared equipment directly. Be specific:

• "这个里面有[花生]吗?" — Does this contain [peanut]?
• "用花生油炒的吗?" — Is it fried in peanut oil?
• "高汤里有什么?" — What's in the broth?
• "可以和别的菜分开做吗?" — Can it be cooked separately (to reduce cross-contact)? Keep in mind that separate preparation does not itself guarantee absence of cross-contact.

Show your Chinese allergy card. Point at the allergen word. If staff cannot reliably confirm the ingredients or preparation, avoid the dish and follow your personal medical plan. Do not gamble with a serious allergy.

For severe allergies, confirm directly with restaurant staff and follow your personal medical plan, including carrying prescribed emergency medication and knowing how to get to care quickly. No menu-reading tool replaces that.

What to do at the table

• Confirm before ordering, not after the food arrives. Once a dish is cooked in shared oil or a sauce, it's too late.
• Keep it simple. Dishes you can describe fully and that involve fewer sauces and shared steps are easier to verify than complex braised or stir-fried specialties.
• Repeat your card to the person taking the order; in busy places messages get lost between the counter and the kitchen.
• Trust your judgment. If staff seem unsure, or the menu is a mystery of sauces, choose something you can verify or skip it.

Regional and restaurant reality

Practice varies:

• Tourist areas and international hotels may sometimes make English-language communication easier — but easier communication is not the same as lower allergen risk. Kitchen practices, shared equipment, and hidden sauces are still factors.
• Local neighborhood restaurants may lack clear allergen labeling and have limited ingredient information, so it can be harder to verify sauces, oils, and shared equipment.
• Street food and small stalls may have limited preparation space or shared equipment, so cross-contact can be harder to assess.

Restaurant recipes and preparation vary. The same dish may be prepared differently from one restaurant to another.

A note on labeling in China

Travelers should not assume restaurant menus provide the kind of standardized allergen disclosure they may be used to in some countries — most restaurant menus in China do not list allergens. This is different from prepackaged food: China's new GB 7718-2025 standard (issued by the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation) will require mandatory labeling of eight major allergen categories — cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, fish, eggs, peanuts, soybeans, milk, and nuts — for covered prepackaged foods from 16 March 2027. Restaurant dishes and freshly prepared foods are outside the scope of this standard. Sesame is not one of the eight mandatory categories, so travelers with a sesame allergy should not treat the new label as comprehensive for their allergen. As the 2027 rules take effect, packaged snacks may carry clearer allergen labeling; when you order a cooked dish, you generally cannot rely on the menu to flag allergens.

A realistic bottom line

You can travel and eat in China with allergies. A practical approach is to prepare, communicate specifically, and confirm the details the kitchen knows. No tool — including any menu-analysis app — is a substitute for staff confirmation and your own medical plan.

Sources & Further Reading

• National Health Commission & State Administration for Market Regulation — GB 7718-2025 Q&A — Mandatory allergen labeling of eight major categories for covered prepackaged foods, effective 16 March 2027; restaurant and freshly prepared foods are outside scope, and sesame is voluntary rather than mandatory.
• CDC Yellow Book — Severely Allergic Travelers — Pre-travel preparation, prescribed medications, clinician planning, and allergy or chef cards in the destination language.
• Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) — Traveling — Airline allergy policies, advance communication, and travel preparation.