Guide
Allergens in Caesar dressing
Caesar dressing usually contains egg, fish from anchovies, milk from Parmesan, and mustard. A bottled dressing and a kitchen recipe can differ. A vegan Caesar is a different label, often based on soya or tahini.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
The usual pattern
The classic emulsion is mayonnaise plus anchovy, cheese and mustard. Buying a ready dressing does not remove the need to copy its allergens into the salad pot label.
What to check in Caesar dressing
| What you see | What it means on a PPDS label |
|---|---|
| Mayonnaise base | Eggs, often mustard |
| Anchovies | Fish |
| Parmesan | Milk |
| Vegan Caesar | Often soya or sesame — check the bottle |
How to write it on the label
PPDS food needs the name of the food and a full ingredients list, with the 14 allergens emphasised every time they appear. The Food Standards Agency’s PPDS guidance is the practical reference. A typical ingredients fragment looks like this — yours must follow the specification of the product you actually use.
Example fragment
Rapeseed oil, water, egg yolk, Parmesan (milk), anchovies (fish), mustard, garlic.
Where it shows up
Bagged salads, chicken wraps, pasta salads and jacket-potato fillings.
Leaving the anchovy out of the name only
Calling it Caesar chicken tells the customer the style. It does not replace fish in the ingredients list.
Some modern Caesars use Worcestershire sauce instead of whole anchovies. That is still fish, and often barley as well.
Specification first
Brands differ. Treat this page as the usual pattern, then match the label to the tub, bag or recipe in front of you.
Questions
Does Caesar always contain fish?
Is the cheese milk?
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.
- Introduction to allergen labelling for PPDS foodFood Standards Agency / GOV.UK
- 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