Allergen label guides
The hard part is not the allergen — it is the word the label uses instead. Each guide lists the aliases, the regional labelling rules, and how the allergen is written in other languages.
Peanuts
A legume, not a nut. Appears as groundnut, arachis and mandelonas, and shares equipment with tree nuts far more often than the label admits.
8 label aliases listed
Tree nuts
Eight nuts, dozens of names. Marzipan, frangipane, praline, gianduja and filbert never say "nut", and a nut-free claim and a peanut-free claim cover different things.
18 label aliases listed
Milk
Milk protein travels under a dozen technical names. Casein and whey turn up in "non-dairy" creamers, crisps, bread and tablets, and lactose-free is not the same as milk-free.
14 label aliases listed
Eggs
Egg protein is split into fractions and sold under chemical names — albumin, ovomucin, livetin, lysozyme. The shine on a bun and fresh pasta are the two that catch people out.
14 label aliases listed
Wheat and gluten
Wheat has more aliases than any other allergen, most of them ancient grain names. Wheat-free and gluten-free are different claims, and malt, rusk and modified starch sit between them.
21 label aliases listed
Soy
Soy is a cheap protein and a cheap emulsifier, so it reaches bread, chocolate and margarine. Lecithin, TVP and the fermented names — miso, tamari, natto — rarely spell out "soy".
15 label aliases listed
Fish
Anchovy in Worcestershire sauce and Caesar dressing, bonito flakes in Japanese stock, isinglass in some beers. Fish is usually an unnamed background flavour, not the main event.
13 label aliases listed
Shellfish
Two separate label categories under one everyday word. Crustaceans are prawns, crab and krill; molluscs are clams, squid and snails — and US rules cover only the crustaceans.
19 label aliases listed
Sesame
A tiny seed with a dozen regional names. Sesame became the ninth US major allergen in 2023 — and some bakers responded by adding it to everything rather than keeping it out.
13 label aliases listed