Growing fears about allergies are fuelling schools and kindergartens to ban parents from bringing in birthday cakes and other party treats to celebrate their children's birthdays.

Gone are the days when you could send your child off with a tray of cupcakes to share with their classmates as parents are being told that it is too risky to share food with a growing number of kids suffering from different allergies.

But while education authorities haven't actually outlawed the sharing of food in schools, the guidelines for dealing with severe allergies such as anaphylaxis, do strongly discourage it.

Research suggests that the number of children who develop food allergies is on the rise and there are a several theories that attempt to explain why this is so. Some research blames the increasing Western obsession with hygiene and cleanliness as having altered the human immune system toward the development of allergic diseases. Other reasons focus on the introduction of foods too early on in a child's diet before the immune system is mature enough to cope.

While there is evidence to suggest that the incidence of allergy development has been on the rise over the past couple of decades, part of this rise can be attributed to the fact that society is more educated and aware of these possible allergies.

Victoria is the first state to legally require schools and kindergartens with anaphylactic students to have a management plan, but other schools are expected to introduce a ban on birthday food sharing and a heightened importance on the washing of hands before and after eating. Not only do well-meaning parents risk the severe allergic reaction of their children's classmates, but celebrating birthdays with other items like special stickers, toys or the like, may prevent these allergic children from feeling left out when birthday cakes are brought into class.

Safety is obviously the number one issue, however, Parents Victoria spokeswoman Elaine Crowle urged schools to consult their community widely before opting for bans saying: "We have to look at children's safety, but in some cases perhaps we are going too far with some of the restrictions in schools nowadays."

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