(AP) — The federal government is issuing its first guidelines to schools on how to protect children with food allergies.

The voluntary advice calls on schools to take such steps as restricting nuts, shellfish or other foods that can cause allergic reactions, and to make sure emergency allergy medicines like EpiPens are available.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted the guidelines on its website Wednesday.

About 15 states — and many schools or school districts — already have policies of their own. But experts say many of their policies are probably not comprehensive.

A recent CDC survey estimated that about 1 in 20 U.S. children have food allergies.