Guide
The 9 major food allergens in the United States
US packaged foods must name nine major allergens: milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. That list is shorter than the UK’s 14. Celery, mustard, lupin, molluscs and sulphites are not FALCPA majors, though sulphites still have their own 10 ppm rule.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
The short answer
US packaged foods must name nine major allergens: milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. That list is shorter than the UK’s 14. Celery, mustard, lupin, molluscs and sulphites are not FALCPA majors, though sulphites still have their own 10 ppm rule.
Where this shows up in a real kitchen
People who bake for both Etsy US customers and a UK market stall often keep one “allergen list” in a notebook. That notebook is wrong for at least one country. US law cares about the nine. UK PPDS cares about Annex II. A US cookie can legally omit mustard as a major-allergen declaration even if a UK pack of the same recipe must emphasise MUSTARD.
The US rule
FALCPA created eight majors. The FASTER Act added sesame effective 1 January 2023. Fish, Crustacean shellfish and tree nuts are labeled by species or type. Wheat is the cereal named as a major allergen — barley and rye are not FALCPA majors, though they matter for gluten-free claims. FDA’s food-allergies page lists the nine and typical ingredients that contain them.
How to apply it
Build a US allergen matrix with nine columns, not fourteen. Add a separate sulphites check if dried fruit, wine vinegar or potato products are in the kitchen. If you export the same SKU to the UK, keep a second matrix. Do not tell a US customer “we follow Natasha’s Law” as if that answered FALCPA.
- List the nine majors on a wall chart with the ingredients that carry them in your kitchen.
- Name fish, shellfish and tree nuts by type on every SKU that contains them.
- Treat sesame as mandatory since 2023 — including tahini, hummus and everything-bagel topping.
- Keep sulphites, gluten-free claims and UK Annex II as separate checks, not extra FALCPA boxes.
Worked example
A Brooklyn bagel shop selling sealed smoked-salmon bagels: wheat in the bagel, milk in the cream cheese, fish as salmon, sesame if the bagel is seeded. Eggs may be in the bagel wash. Soy may hide in the salmon glaze. Tree nuts are absent unless a walnut shmear is used. Mustard in a side pickle is irrelevant to FALCPA majors. The packed bagel still needs those names on the pack.
Checks that belong on this pack
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Sesame is on the chart | It is no longer an optional extra for US packs. |
| Salmon is labeled as fish / salmon, not “seafood” | FALCPA wants the species for fish. |
| Wheat is named even when the ingredient is flour or bread | Customers cannot be expected to decode “enriched flour”. |
| UK-only allergens are not stuffed into Contains | Declaring celery as if it were a US major allergen confuses the FALCPA list. |
Copying the UK 14 onto a US Contains line
Contains: wheat, milk, egg, soy, sesame, celery, mustard looks thorough. It is not how FALCPA is written, and it trains staff to treat two legal lists as one.
What LabelClear can and cannot print
LabelClear’s UK emphasis set is the 14. For a US pack, declare the nine in plain English, then add Nutrition Facts if the pack is retail FDA food.
Questions
Is coconut a tree nut?
Are oats a major allergen?
Do I list barley?
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.
- Food allergiesU.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA)U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research Act of 2021U.S. Food and Drug Administration
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