Allergy translation cards compared: apps, PDFs and plastic cards

How we compared

We looked at five things for each product: the format, the number of languages, whether the card mentions cross-contact in the kitchen, whether it names local dishes that commonly contain the food, and the price model. Offline use matters too: a printed or plastic card needs no network, and an app should open without one. Each row of the table links to the page where we found the facts. Where a product’s site does not mention something, we write “not listed” instead of assuming it is missing.

The three formats: app, printable, plastic

An app builds the card on your phone. You can change it at any time and show it in another language in the next country. SafeMeal, Equal Eats and Food Allergy Card work this way. The trade-off is that the card lives on a device with a battery.

A printable card is a PDF or an image that you download, then print or keep on your phone. Legal Nomads, Celiac Travel, FARE, AllergyCard.app and AllergyPass provide this format, and Equal Eats sells printable PDFs as well. A plastic card is made and posted to you: Equal Eats, SelectWisely and Allergy UK offer one. It needs no phone. Equal Eats and SelectWisely cards are bought per language and take from a few days to several weeks to arrive.

Comparison table

Best for a plastic card in your wallet

Equal Eats and SelectWisely. Both sell credit-card-sized plastic cards written by professional translators. Equal Eats lists 58 languages and lets you customize a card from 700 allergens. SelectWisely lists more than 60 languages, has sold cards since 2004 and also makes drug-allergy, diabetes and airport-security cards. Allergy UK, a charity, offers translation cards in 35 languages covering up to 200 allergens, in plastic or digital form. SafeMeal does not sell a physical card.

Best free options

FARE publishes a free interactive chef card as a PDF, with 11 languages listed. Celiac Travel offers free gluten-free restaurant cards in 63 languages and suggests a donation. Equal Eats makes its English cards free, in the app and as printable cards. The English versions of the Legal Nomads cards are free too. Google Translate is free and is covered further down. SafeMeal is not free: it has a free trial, then a low yearly price or a one-time lifetime purchase; every language included.

Best for celiac disease

Legal Nomads. Its cards are written country by country by a travel writer with celiac disease. They list the local ingredients and dishes that contain gluten, spell out cross-contact from shared fryers, pans and cooking surfaces, and are translated twice by native speakers familiar with the condition. They exist in 27 languages and cost $9.99 each. For a free card, Celiac Travel covers 63 languages. If you have celiac disease plus another allergy, look at a product that combines foods on one card, such as SafeMeal or a customized Equal Eats card.

For many languages and local hidden dishes

This is the category where SafeMeal fits. Its card exists in 143 languages across 237 countries and territories, every line followed by English; compare that with the languages column of the table. “Often hidden in” lists local dishes that commonly contain each food on your card, from 4,537 lines checked dish by dish across 68 countries. Legal Nomads does the same for gluten, inside each card’s text.

Equal Eats, SelectWisely and Legal Nomads all describe translation by professional translators or native speakers. If that is your first criterion, choose one of them.

What about Google Translate and ChatGPT?

Both are general tools that translate what you write; neither was designed for allergies. Google Translate is free, reads menus through the camera and handles two-way conversation, which no card does. Allergy-specific content, such as kitchen precautions or local dishes, is not listed among its features: the message is yours to compose, and Equal Eats notes that some allergy terms, such as tree nuts in European languages, have no direct translation. OpenAI’s terms of use say ChatGPT’s output should not be treated as the only source of facts. If you write your own card with either tool, have a native speaker check it.

What a good allergy card says

The cards compared here share a few elements. They name the foods to avoid; SelectWisely’s nut card includes their oils. They say how serious it is: SelectWisely states a life-threatening allergy, and SafeMeal marks each food as severe allergy, strict or preference. They address the kitchen: Equal Eats adds a cross-contact warning, Legal Nomads names shared fryers, pans and surfaces, and SafeMeal asks for a clean pan, clean utensils and fresh oil. Some name local dishes that commonly contain the food. SelectWisely ends with a direct question about the dish. Whatever the card says, confirm with the restaurant staff.

Questions about allergy translation cards

More comparisons

• SafeMeal vsEqual EatsEqual Eats sells translated allergy cards as an app, a printable PDF or a plastic card; SafeMeal builds the card in an app and adds local hidden dishes.
• SafeMeal vsSelectWiselySelectWisely ships pre-printed plastic translation cards; SafeMeal builds the card on your phone, for any combination of foods.
• SafeMeal vsGoogle TranslateA free general translator, and ChatGPT, next to a card built for food restrictions: what each one does, and why you may want both.
• SafeMeal vsFigFig checks packaged food in US grocery stores; SafeMeal tells a restaurant kitchen what you cannot eat, in the local language.
• SafeMeal vsSpokinSpokin helps you choose where to eat through reviews from people with food allergies; SafeMeal tells the kitchen what you cannot eat.
• SafeMeal vsLegal NomadsLegal Nomads sells detailed celiac cards, one per country, as downloads; SafeMeal puts gluten and the other foods in your profile on one card.
• HubAll comparisonsEvery page comparing SafeMeal with another app, card or translator.