A packaged food that is or contains one of the nine major food allergens has to say so on its label: milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame. There are two ways to do it. Either put "Contains" and the allergens right after or next to the ingredient list, in type no smaller than the list's, or name the allergen in parentheses after the ingredient it's in, unless the ingredient's name already says it. Tree nuts, fish and shellfish are declared by their kind, pecans or cod, not "tree nuts" or "fish", and flavorings and colorings that contain an allergen count too. In the example below, a cookie maker's brown butter pecan cookie gets a label both ways, and the one ingredient whose name hides its allergen, butter, is what decides it. Below are the rules, the example and a free checklist.
The short version
- The nine major food allergens: milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans, sesame.
- Declare them with a "Contains" statement after or next to the ingredient list, or by name in the list.
- The Contains statement's type is no smaller than the ingredient list's.
- Tree nuts, fish and shellfish are named by kind: almonds, pecans, cod, shrimp.
- An allergen in a flavoring, coloring or incidental additive is declared too.
- Highly refined oils from an allergen food aren't major food allergens.
- "May contain" statements aren't part of the rule; they're voluntary and have to be true.
- TaroStack keeps each supplier's lot and recipe version, so a label change or a recall reaches every batch. More below.
The rules
The nine major food allergens are defined in 21 U.S.C. 321(qq): milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame, and any ingredient with protein from them, except highly refined oils and ingredients granted an exemption. Sesame became the ninth on January 1, 2023.
How to declare them is in 21 U.S.C. 343(w):
| Way to declare | How it reads | When the name isn't needed |
|---|---|---|
| A Contains statement | "Contains: wheat, milk, egg, soy, pecans." right after or next to the ingredient list, type no smaller than the list's | Never: every major allergen in the food is named |
| In the ingredient list | "butter (milk)", "whey (milk)", "natural flavor (soy)" | When the ingredient's name already says it ("wheat flour", "soy lecithin"), or the source is named elsewhere in the list |
For tree nuts, fish and crustacean shellfish, the name is the specific kind: "pecans", not "tree nuts"; "cod", not "fish". A flavoring, coloring or incidental additive that contains a major allergen is labeled like any other ingredient, even though flavorings can otherwise be listed as "natural flavor". This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a cookie label
Granite Peak Cookie Co., a made-up cookie maker in Sandy, Utah, I use in these examples, sells a brown butter pecan chocolate chip cookie to cafés, wrapped and labeled:
| Ingredient | Its own ingredients | Major allergen | Already named? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enriched wheat flour | Wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid | Wheat | Yes: "wheat flour" |
| Butter | Cream, salt | Milk | No |
| Semisweet chocolate chips | Sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract | Soy | Yes: "soy lecithin" |
| Brown sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda, sea salt | None | ||
| Pecans | Tree nut: pecans | Yes | |
| Eggs | Egg | Yes |
Butter is the trap: it's milk, and nothing in its name says so. So the label either names it in the list, "butter (milk)", or carries the statement after it: Contains: wheat, milk, egg, soy, pecans. Granite Peak uses the Contains statement, because a customer looking for an allergen looks there first, and because it lists the pecans by name even though "pecans" is already in the list. Before each new supplier, it reads the chocolate chips' own label: a chip with milkfat or a flavoring with milk changes the statement. Which allergens are in each recipe is easier to see in allergen matrix template, and everything else a label needs is in food labeling requirements for small business.
"May contain" and shared equipment
The rule covers allergens that are in the food as ingredients. Statements such as "may contain tree nuts" or "made on shared equipment with peanuts" aren't part of it: they're voluntary, they have to be true and not misleading, and they don't replace keeping allergens apart in the kitchen. A label that leaves out an allergen that's in the food leads to a recall; what to do if it happens is in undeclared allergen recall.
Get the checklist
Download the allergen labeling checklist. Two sheets: ingredients, one line for each with its own ingredients, the major allergen it is or contains, the name to declare and whether that name is already in the list, with a No in red; and the Contains statement, which of the nine allergens are in the product and a statement built from them, with the kind of tree nut, fish or shellfish for you to type. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A checklist is right on the day it's filled in. Then a supplier changes its chocolate chips, the café asks for a peanut butter version made on the same day, and a seasonal cookie borrows the brown butter. The label printed last month doesn't know any of that, and neither does the sheet.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each supplier's lot and recipe version, so a label change or a recall reaches every batch.
Supplier lots on every batch. Each delivery of chocolate chips is received with the supplier's lot, and fields of your own on the receipt, such as a tick box for "ingredient statement checked against the label", record that someone read it. Each batch of cookies records which lots it consumed, automatically.
Recipe versions. Recipes are versioned, so a change of chocolate chips is a new version on a date, and batches made before and after it are told apart.
One report if it goes wrong. If a supplier recalls a lot for an undeclared allergen, one recall report shows which batches it went into, which cafés got them, and what's still on your shelves.
| The job | Checklist | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which chip lot went into a batch | Not recorded | Recorded automatically |
| A supplier's label checked | Remembered | A tick box on the receipt |
| A recipe change | A new sheet, maybe | A new recipe version on a date |
| A supplier's allergen recall | Call every café | One report: batches, customers, shelf |
Lots, versioned recipes, batches and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.