Food Allergen Groups That Must Be Declared To Customers By Food Businesses

This page lists the fourteen allergen groups that make up Annex II of the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (No. 1169/2011). These allergens are deemed the most common ingredients or processing aids that cause food allergies and intolerances. In accordance with the legislation, if your food product contains or uses an ingredient or processing aid derived from one of the listed products then it will need to be declared to the customer.

SUBSTANCES OR PRODUCTS CAUSING ALLERGIES OR INTOLERANCES

1. Cereals containing gluten, namely: wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut or their hybridised strains, and products thereof, except:

(a) wheat based glucose syrups including dextrose ( 1 );
(b) wheat based maltodextrins ( 1 );
(c) glucose syrups based on barley;
(d) cereals used for making alcoholic distillates including ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin;

2. Crustaceans and products thereof;

3. Eggs and products thereof;

4. Fish and products thereof, except:

(a) fish gelatine used as carrier for vitamin or carotenoid preparations;
(b) fish gelatine or Isinglass used as fining agent in beer and wine;

5. Peanuts and products thereof;

6. Soybeans and products thereof, except:

(a) fully refined soybean oil and fat ( 1 );
(b) natural mixed tocopherols (E306), natural D-alpha tocopherol, natural D-alpha tocopherol acetate, and natural D-alpha tocopherol succinate from soybean sources;
(c) vegetable oils derived phytosterols and phytosterol esters from soybean sources;
(d) plant stanol ester produced from vegetable oil sterols from soybean sources;

7. Milk and products thereof (including lactose), except:

(a) whey used for making alcoholic distillates including ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin;
(b) lactitol;

8. Nuts, namely: almonds (Amygdalus communis L.), hazelnuts (Corylus avellana), walnuts (Juglans regia), cashews (Anacardium occidentale), pecan nuts (Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch), Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa), pistachio nuts (Pistacia vera), macadamia or Queensland nuts (Macadamia ternifolia), and products thereof, except for nuts used for making alcoholic distillates including ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin;

9. Celery and products thereof;

10. Mustard and products thereof;

11. Sesame seeds and products thereof;

12. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at concentrations of more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre in terms of the total SO 2 which are to be calculated for products as proposed ready for consumption or as reconstituted according to the instructions of the manufacturers;

13. Lupin and products thereof;

14. Molluscs and products thereof.

EN 22.11.2011 Official Journal of the European Union L 304/43

(1) And the products thereof, in so far as the process that they have undergone is not likely to increase the level of allergenicity assessed by the Authority for the relevant product from which they originated.

The contents of this Information Page are for reference purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Independent legal advice should be sought in relation to any specific legal matter.