A walk to raise awareness about food allergies will be held on Sept. 9.

“With the beginning of the school year approaching, it is a good time to raise awareness as it is difficult to send your child to school wondering if they are going to be safe when they have life-threatening food allergies,” said Cheryl Fruiterman, chairwoman for the FARE Walk for Food Allergy in Albany.

This year’s walk will be held next Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Crossings in Colonie.

“Teachers and students need to be prepared and educated to know how to keep a child safe and what to do in case of an allergic reaction at school,” Fruiterman said in an email to The Enterprise.

Fruiterman has a 13-year-old son who is allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, and shellfish.  He also outgrew a mustard allergy. His family has been dealing with food allergies since he was nine months old.

Fruiterman’s son is part of a growing trend. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the prevalence of food allergy in children increased by 50 percent between 1997 and 2011. Childhood hospitalizations for food allergy tripled between the late 1990s and the mid-2000s.

Food Allergy Research & Education, known as FARE, is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2012 that works on behalf of the 15 million Americans with food allergies, including those at risk for life-threatening anaphylaxis.

This potentially deadly disease affects 1 in 13 children in the United States — or roughly two in every classroom, according to FARE.