Allergen
Milk (including lactose) on UK food labels
Milk (including lactose) is one of the 14 allergens that must be declared when it is an ingredient of PPDS food. On the label, emphasise it every time it appears in the ingredients list — and use the wording customers and inspectors recognise.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
How to name it on the label
Official wording: Milk (including lactose). On the pack, use: Milk.
Watch for
Butter is milk even though the name does not say so. Cocoa butter and plant milks are not milk.Where it hides
- Butter, cream, cheese, yoghurt, ghee, buttermilk
- Milk chocolate and most white chocolate
- Whey, casein and caseinate
- Custard, caramel and fudge
- Some breads, glazes and pastry
Traps
The kitchen trap
Butter is milk even though the name does not say so. Cocoa butter and plant milks are not milk.
Compound ingredients
If milk (including lactose) arrives inside chocolate, sauce, stock or a mix, break that compound ingredient out so the allergen still appears in the list.
How to label it
- Confirm whether milk (including lactose) is an intentional ingredient (including inside mixes).
- Use the label name: Milk.
- Emphasise it every time it appears — bold or capitals survive thermal printers.
- Do not replace the ingredients list with a symbol or a separate allergen box alone.
Questions
Do I declare milk (including lactose) if it is only a trace?
Is a symbol enough for milk (including lactose)?
Official sources
Everything on this page traces back to these. Where they and we disagree, they are right — tell us and we'll fix it.
- Labelling guidance for prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food productsFood Standards Agency / GOV.UK
- Food allergen labelling and information requirements technical guidanceFood Standards Agency / GOV.UK
- Food labelling: giving food information to consumersGOV.UK
Also see: The 14 allergens · Allergen label generator · How to emphasise allergens · Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pistachio, pecan, walnut, Brazil, macadamia)