Guide
Allergens in fish sauce
Fish sauce is fish. It is made from fermented fish. A small splash in a dressing, stir-fry or curry is still a fish ingredient and must be emphasised on a PPDS label.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
The usual pattern
Traditional fish sauce is anchovy and salt. Some sauces add sugar. Squid brand and nam pla style products are fish. Vegetarian fish sauces are soy-based and are not this ingredient.
What to check in fish sauce
| What you see | What it means on a PPDS label |
|---|---|
| Anchovy | Fish |
| Vegetarian fish sauce | Usually soya, often wheat — not fish |
| Added to pad thai sauce | Fish, plus peanuts if you add them |
| Used in kimchi | Fish, unless you used a vegan kimchi |
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
Anchovy (fish), salt.
Where it shows up
Curries, dressings, marinades, kimchi and noodle dishes.
A secret splash
If it is in the recipe, it is on the label. Customers avoiding fish will not guess it from a vegetable stir-fry.
Oyster sauce is molluscs, not a substitute name for fish sauce. They are different allergens.
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
Is fish sauce the same as Worcestershire sauce?
Do I declare fish sauce in kimchi?
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