Mythbuster: Cooking a food at high temperature will kill the protein and I won’t be allergic to it.

Cooking, even with high heat and other methods of food processing, does not reliably destroy food allergens, and doesn’t ensure safety for people with food allergies.

Foods are complex mixtures, and how they respond to heat is not always predictable. This also varies depending on the allergen. For example, certain people with milk and egg allergy can consume baked egg and baked milk safely when these allergens are partly destroyed by heating. But only some people with an allergy can tolerate cooked egg or milk (speak to your allergist about whether trying baked milk or egg is right for you). Other allergens, such as peanut, are not affected by heat for anyone with that allergy.

Bottom Line: You can’t cook all the allergens out of a food.

Medical content reviewed by: Dr. Julia Upton, MD, FRCP(C) Clinical Immunology and Allergy

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