Griffith University home economics expert Professor Donna Prendergast has called for compulsory cooking lessons in secondary schools to help fight rising obesity levels in children.

Thousands more Victorian school children will be growing, cooking and eating their own food at school thanks to an expansion of the successful Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program.

The most severe form of allergic reaction, anaphylaxis is potentially life-threatening and needs to be treated as a medical emergency requiring immediate treatment and urgent attention.

To find out more about this reaction, what its triggers are and the risk minimisation procedures that school canteens should have in place, we spoke to Geraldine Batty of Anaphylaxis Australia.