Eating in China with Allergies and Dietary Restrictions

Last updated: October 2026

Restaurants in China are not required to publish allergen information, so eating safely depends on a written Chinese card, a guide who can brief the kitchen, and a realistic view of where your allergen hides. Packaged food is a different story.

Do Chinese restaurants have to declare allergens?

No, and the distinction shapes everything else. China's allergen rules sit inside the national standard for prepackaged food, GB 7718. The current edition was published in March 2025 and takes effect on March 16, 2027. From that date, eight classes of allergen must be labeled when they are used as an ingredient:

Three consequences follow. The rule covers packaged food, not dishes served at a table: no Chinese law obliges a restaurant to hand you an allergen sheet. The list also leaves out sesame, a default dip and dressing across northern China. And because the deadline is 2027, shelves in 2026 still often follow the older voluntary rules.

How common are food allergies in China?

The allergens that dominate here differ from those in the United States and Europe, and that shapes how a kitchen hears your request.

A 2024 study by China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention together with the National Health Commission put self-reported food allergy among children aged 0 to 5 at about 4.8 percent. For adults, a Peking Union Medical College Hospital study of 12,373 residents of Yulin, Shaanxi, presented at the 2025 AAAAI and WAO congress, found self-reported food allergy at 1.90 percent and laboratory-confirmed allergy at 0.41 percent. Fruit was the most common self-reported trigger, followed by seafood and nuts or seeds. Peanut allergy was self-reported by 0.16 percent of that population.

Two details matter more than the averages. Wheat is a leading cause of severe reactions in the Peking Union allergy clinic's case load, which is unusual by Western standards and matters if you are gluten-sensitive. And roughly 20 to 40 percent of people with pollen allergy in China also react to food, so a spring or autumn trip can expose an allergy you have not met before.

How do I explain an allergy in Chinese?

Print it. A written card survives a busy dinner service in a way that a spoken sentence does not, and pronunciation is the least important part of the message.

Carry a card with your allergen in Chinese characters, the words for severe allergy, and an instruction not to include it. Photograph the card so you can send it to a guide or a concierge.

Which dishes carry the highest risk?

Some risks are structural, not accidental.

• Shared broth and shared plates. Hotpot and family-style dining put one pair of chopsticks into one dish. Ask for serving spoons or for your portion to be set aside first.
• Soy sauce. Most Chinese soy sauce is brewed from soybeans with wheat, wheat flour or wheat bran, so gluten turns up in dishes that look naturally gluten-free.
• Cooking oil. Blends are common and peanut oil is one of the components, so avoiding peanuts has to include the pan.
• Marinades and cold dishes. Cold plates are prepared in advance, so nothing can be removed once you have ordered.
• Stock cubes and bouillon. Commercial bases frequently combine fish, soy and wheat.
• Dumpling skins and batter. Potato starch and cornstarch are typical, but wheat flour appears often enough to ask.

How do I eat halal in China?

Halal food is regulated province by province rather than by one national statute. Under the rules in Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Xinjiang, Henan, Hebei and other provinces, a business selling halal food must hold a halal food permit and hang a 清真 signboard in a visible position; the signboard is issued by the county-level ethnic affairs department, and Xinjiang adds that food containing no meat, dairy or edible oil may not be labeled 清真 at all.

For a visitor the practical test is the signboard plus the neighborhood: the Muslim quarter of Xi'an, Lanzhou-style beef noodle shops in any large city, and the Hui districts of Xining, Kashgar and Urumqi. Many halal kitchens serve no alcohol, so ask before ordering wine.

How do I eat vegetarian or vegan in China?

Vegetarian is widely understood; vegan is less so. Two traps recur even in restaurants that advertise vegetables.

• Oyster sauce and chicken essence. 蚝油 and 鸡精 appear in dishes described as vegetable or tofu, so the question is what the sauce contains, not what the plate looks like.
• Buddhist vegetarian cooking. 素食 kitchens also avoid onion, garlic, chives, leek and shallot, so a dish may differ from what you expected in either direction.

Vegan travelers should use 纯素 and exclude egg, dairy and stock explicitly. At a formal banquet the menu is set days ahead, so a dietary request needs notice, not a question at the table. Our language survival guide covers the wider vocabulary for ordering.

What should I do if I have a reaction?

Call 120 for an ambulance; 110 is the police. Major cities have emergency departments and, in the largest, allergy clinics. Carry medication in its original packaging with the prescription, because customs officers and hospital staff may ask.

Save your travel insurance hotline as a local number, and photograph the Chinese name and address of your hotel before you leave it. To report a restaurant or a packaged product, 12315 is the single market regulation hotline, which absorbed the old food and drug line in 2019. Our health, pharmacy and insurance guide covers hospitals, payment and claims in more detail.

Water is the other routine caution. National and municipal health authorities advise boiling tap water rather than drinking it straight, so treat bottled water as the default and ask for hot water, which is free on every train. The rest of our China travel essentials guides cover packing, health and everyday logistics.

How does a tailor-made trip manage dietary needs?

Dietary requirements are one reason travelers move from a group departure to a tailor-made itinerary. On inbound leisure travel we brief each restaurant in writing before arrival and keep a card on file for every traveler, so the request reaches the kitchen rather than the table. Business travel programs run the same protocol at hotel banquets and hosted dinners, where a third party arranges the food and the guest list changes late.

Study tours add an obligation. With minors on the itinerary, schools and host families receive written dietary instructions and staff carry the group's allergen list, so no student has to negotiate a medical risk in Chinese. If you are planning around a serious allergy, tell us at the planning stage rather than after the hotels are booked; the choice of restaurant is the control that works.

Frequently asked questions

Is sesame labeled on food in China?

Not in the mandatory eight. Sesame paste and sesame oil are common in northern China, so check ingredient lists for 芝麻 and ask about it separately.

Can I trust a server who says a dish has no peanuts?

Treat it as the start of a conversation. Ask about the oil, the sauce and the stock, and hand over the card. At a busy food stall, cross-contact cannot honestly be ruled out.

Is gluten-free food easy to find in China?

It is not a menu category here, so expect to build a gluten-free meal rather than order one. Rice, rice noodles and plain steamed dishes are the practical base, and soy sauce is the main hidden source.

What is the emergency number in China?

120 reaches an ambulance and 110 reaches the police. Neither requires a local phone plan, and hotel front desks will call for you.

Should I bring my own medication?

Bring what you need in original packaging with the prescription, and check the rules before flying, since some ingredients are controlled. Bring a written copy of your allergy with its Chinese translation.

Do hotels handle dietary requests?

A written request attached to the reservation usually reaches the kitchen, and international-brand hotels in major cities deal with allergies routinely. A buffet carries more cross-contact risk than a dish cooked to order. If you are traveling in winter, our season-by-season packing list explains what else to carry.