The 14 EU allergens: what must be declared on labels — and what doesn't have to be
EU food law does something genuinely useful for allergic consumers that many shoppers don't know is law: Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (the “FIC” regulation) defines 14 substances that must be declared and visually emphasised — bold, capitals, or underline — inside the ingredient list of every prepacked food, every time they or their derivatives are used.
The 14, with their hiding places
| Allergen | Easy to miss as |
|---|---|
| Cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut) | malt extract, couscous, semolina, seitan |
| Crustaceans | shrimp paste in Asian sauces |
| Eggs | lysozyme (in some cheeses), albumin, some wine finings |
| Fish | Worcestershire sauce (anchovy), some wine/beer finings, surimi |
| Peanuts | groundnut oil, satay, some 'vegetable' protein |
| Soybeans | lecithin (E322 from soy), tofu, edamame, miso |
| Milk | casein, whey, lactose carriers in crisps and processed meat |
| Tree nuts (almond, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, pecan, brazil, pistachio, macadamia) | marzipan, praline, pesto, nut oils |
| Celery | celeriac, spice mixes, stock cubes |
| Mustard | curry, mayonnaise, salad dressings, pickles |
| Sesame seeds | tahini, hummus, gomashio, some burger buns |
| Sulphur dioxide & sulphites (>10 mg/kg) | dried fruit, wine, vinegar, processed potatoes |
| Lupin | lupin flour in gluten-free and high-protein baking |
| Molluscs | oyster sauce, squid ink, scallop powder in seasonings |
Where the protection stops
- “May contain” is voluntary. Precautionary allergen labels are not harmonised in EU law: no threshold, no standard wording, no obligation to print one. Two identical cross-contamination risks can be labelled completely differently by two manufacturers.
- Only these 14 are mandatory. Allergies to kiwi, peas, buckwheat or other legumes are real but unprotected by the emphasis rule — pea protein is increasingly common in ultra-processed high-protein products and appears in plain type.
- Non-prepacked food is weaker ground. Bakeries, delis and restaurants must provide allergen information, but member states decide how — often verbally on request.
- Reformulations happen silently. The same barcode can carry different recipes across markets and over time, which is why per-country ingredient data matters.
Allergens hiding in additives
Some E-numbers are themselves allergen-derived or allergen-relevant: soy lecithin (E322) keeps its soy emphasis duty, egg lysozyme (E1105) appears in some cheeses and wines, and the sulphite preservative group (E220–E228) is the reason “contains sulphites” is printed on wine. The additive index notes the function of each; the per-product allergen call always belongs to the printed label.
How Forkin handles allergens
Set your allergens once in the app and every scanned product is checked against its enriched, per-market ingredient data — including the derived allergen tags on each product and, where available, per-country recipe variants of the same barcode. Menu scanning applies the same check to restaurant dishes, and the meal planner's starter plans swap out recipes that hit your registered allergens.
A practical shopping checklist
- Read the emphasised words in the ingredient list first — that's the legal layer.
- Re-check products you buy routinely every few months; recipes change without fanfare.
- Treat “free-from” claims and “may contain” warnings as marketing and triage respectively — neither replaces the ingredient list.
- Buying abroad? The 14-allergen emphasis rule applies EU-wide, so the bold type works in any EU language.
- For unpackaged food, ask explicitly — providers are obliged to know.
Frequently asked questions
- Is 'may contain traces of…' regulated in the EU?
- Mostly no — precautionary 'may contain' statements are voluntary and unstandardised. The absence of a 'may contain' line does not mean the absence of cross-contamination risk, and its presence doesn't quantify the risk. Only the emphasised allergens in the ingredient list itself are legally mandated.
- Are sulphites really an allergen?
- Sulphites (E220–E228) trigger intolerance reactions rather than classic IgE allergy in most affected people, but EU law treats them as a mandatory declaration above 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/L — which is why 'contains sulphites' appears on wine, dried fruit and many condiments.
- What's the difference between milk allergy and lactose intolerance on a label?
- Milk allergy reacts to milk proteins (casein, whey) — tiny amounts matter, and 'milk' must be emphasised in the ingredient list. Lactose intolerance is about the sugar, and many high-lactose products are safe for milk-allergic people only if protein-free, which labels rarely clarify. Treat 'lactose-free' as irrelevant to a milk allergy.
- Can I rely on an app instead of reading the label?
- No. Forkin surfaces allergen data per product and flags your registered allergens, but recipes change, factories change, and database entries can lag a reformulation. For medically significant allergies, the printed label and your clinician's advice always win. Always read the label.
Put it into practice
Forkin applies everything in this guide automatically — scan any barcode and see the score, processing group, additives, and your allergens checked in one view. See pricing or compare Forkin to other scanners.