Guide
Allergens in marzipan
Marzipan is almonds, which are tree nuts, plus sugar. Some recipes also contain egg white. Golden marzipan and white marzipan from the same maker can differ — check whether egg is in the one on the bench.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
The usual pattern
Almonds are ground with sugar and glucose. A little almond extract does not replace the nut. If you use a nut-free “marzipan flavour” paste, that is a different ingredient and may be soya or wheat instead.
What to check in marzipan
| What you see | What it means on a PPDS label |
|---|---|
| Almonds | Tree nuts — emphasise almonds |
| Egg white in some recipes | Eggs |
| Apricot jam used to stick it | Often sulphites |
| Nut-free substitutes | Not almonds — read that product |
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
Sugar, almonds, glucose syrup, water.
Where it shows up
Simnel cake, Battenberg, stollen, celebration cakes and macaron fillings.
A nut-free celebration cake
You cannot cover a nut-free cake with ordinary marzipan. Almonds are a tree nut. Use a substitute only if its spec matches the claim.
Persipan is made from peach kernels, not almonds. It is a different product. Do not label it as almonds, and check its own 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
Are almonds a tree nut?
Does marzipan contain egg?
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