The EU 14 Allergen Rules
- Allergenic ingredients must be indicated in list of ingredients with clear reference to name of the substance or product as listed in Annex II of the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation No.1169/2011 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 78/2014 amending Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. Annex II outlines the 14 allergens (and products thereof) that must be labelled or indicated as being present in foods and are:
- Cereals containing gluten, namely: wheat (such as spelt and khorasan wheat), rye, barley, oats
- Crustaceans for example prawns, crabs, lobster, crayfish
- Eggs
- Fish
- Peanuts
- Soybeans
- Milk (including lactose)
- Nuts; namely almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio nuts, macadamia (or Queensland) nuts
- Celery (including celeriac)
- Mustard
- Sesame
- Sulphur dioxide/sulphites, where added and at a level above 10mg/kg or 10mg/L in the finished product. This can be used as a preservative in dried fruit
- Lupin, which includes lupin seeds and flour and can be found in types of bread, pastries and pasta
- Molluscs like, mussels, whelks, oysters, snails and squid
- The allergenic ingredients need to be emphasised using a typeset that clearly distinguishes it from the rest of the ingredients, for example by means of the font, style or background colour. Food businesses can choose what method they want to use to emphasise the 14 allergens on their product label.
- When a product is not required to provide an ingredients list such as a bottle of wine, any allergenic ingredients within this product must be declared using a ‘contains’ statement followed by the name of the allergenic substance as listed in Annex II and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 78/2014 amending Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011
- Where several ingredients or processing aids in a food originates from a single allergenic ingredient, the labelling should make this clear for each ingredient or processing aid concerned. For example, skimmed milk powder, whey (milk), lactose (milk)
- Where the name of the food (such as a box of eggs or bag of peanuts) clearly refers to the allergenic ingredients concerned, there is no need for a separate declaration of the allergenic food
- Where foods are offered to sale to the final consumer or to mass caterers without packaging, or where foods are packed on the sales premises at the consumer’s request or prepacked for direct sale, information about allergenic ingredients is mandatory and must be provided
- Allergen information must be provided for non-prepacked foods in written or oral formats with clear signposting to where consumers can obtain this information, when it is not provided upfront
Download a pdf copy here.