Guide
Allergens in miso
Miso is fermented soya beans, so it contains soya. Many misos also contain rice or barley. Barley miso is a cereal containing gluten. White, red and barley miso are not one label.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
The usual pattern
The paste is soya, a grain, salt and koji. Rice miso still contains soya. Barley miso contains soya and barley. A soup pouch or glaze inherits whichever tub you opened.
What to check in miso
| What you see | What it means on a PPDS label |
|---|---|
| Soya beans | Soya |
| Barley miso | Also cereals containing gluten |
| Rice miso | Soya; rice is not a gluten cereal |
| Miso dressings | May add sesame or soya sauce with wheat |
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
Soya beans, rice, salt.
Where it shows up
Soups, glazes, salad dressings, aubergine dishes and ramen broths you pack.
Barley miso in a gluten-free broth
The noodles can be rice and the broth still barley. Name the miso type in the recipe.
Hatcho-style soybean miso can be grain-free and still soya. Confirm on the spec before you drop barley or rice from the list.
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 all miso gluten-free?
Is miso 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