The Universal Allergen Chart
Every name these allergens hide under, and the places a label will not warn you. The nine the US makes manufacturers declare, and the five it does not.
- Scan the ingredient list every time. Recipes change without notice. A product that was safe last month can change this month.
- The front of the pack is marketing. "Non-dairy," "nut-free," and "gluten-free" are claims, not the ingredient list. Turn it over and read the back.
- The bottom band can be invisible. US labels do not have to name those allergens at all, so read the full list, not just the "contains" line, and ask.
Select any allergen for its full, cited label-reading guide.
The Big 9
The US "major allergens." They must be declared by name, so here is where they still slip past you.
| Allergen | Everyday foods | Hidden names to scan for | Where the label will not warn you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milk | cheese, butter, cream, yogurt, ice cream, baked goods | casein, caseinate (sodium/calcium/potassium), whey, lactalbumin, lactoglobulin, curds, milk solids, ghee, butterfat, recaldent | The trap"Lactose-free" is not milk-free. It removes the sugar, not the milk proteins (casein, whey) you react to. Treat "non-dairy" as a slow-down and scan for casein. |
| Egg | baked goods, mayonnaise, meringue, custard, marshmallow | albumin / albumen, ovalbumin, ovomucoid, ovotransferrin (conalbumin), globulin, livetin, vitellin, lysozyme (E1105); any "ovo-" word | Check-it termsBare "lecithin" can be egg. Lysozyme (E1105) preserves some cheeses and fines some wines with no front-of-pack egg flag. |
| Peanut | peanut butter, candy, baked goods, satay, Thai and West African sauces | arachis (arachis oil, arachis hypogaea), groundnut, monkey nut, mandelonas, beer nuts | The oil exemptionHighly refined peanut oil is exempt and can be present undeclared. Cold-pressed and gourmet peanut oils still carry protein, so "peanut oil" alone will not tell you which. |
| Tree nuts | baked goods, cereals, chocolate, candy, trail mix, pesto, salads, nut butters | marzipan, frangipane, praline, gianduja, nougat, amaretto, pesto, mortadella, "vegan cheese," butter-pecan, nut meal/flour/paste, gourmet nut oils; filbert, pignoli, kaju | The umbrellaEach nut must be named, but a voluntary "may contain tree nuts" advisory often does not say which. Confection names (praline, gianduja) are not the ingredient line. Bulk bins and bakeries carry no list. |
| Wheat | bread, pasta, flour, baked goods, cereal, battered and breaded foods | durum, semolina, farina, spelt, einkorn, emmer, kamut (khorasan), bulgur, couscous, seitan, vital wheat gluten, hydrolyzed wheat protein | Two different claims"Gluten-free" is a celiac standard (under 20 ppm), not "wheat-free." And "wheat-free" is not always gluten-free: it can still hold barley or rye. |
| Soy | tofu, edamame, soy sauce, soy milk, and many processed foods | soya, soja, Glycine max, soy lecithin (E322), textured vegetable protein (TVP), hydrolyzed soy protein, soy protein isolate, miso; "vegetable protein / broth" can be soy | The oil exemptionHighly refined soybean oil is exempt and can be in a product with no soy flag. Soy lecithin is not exempt (it shows as "soy"). Cold-pressed soybean oils can retain protein. |
| Fish | fillets, fish sticks, canned tuna and salmon, sushi, lox, fish sauce | Worcestershire and Caesar dressing (anchovy), surimi (pollock), fish stock/dashi/fumet, bouillabaisse, salt cod (bacalao, stockfish), bonito, isinglass (beer/wine), omega-3 fish oil, marine collagen, fish gelatin | Outside the ruleLabels name the species, but every other fish is your own scan. Restaurants, shared fryers, cooking steam, and the supplement aisle sit outside packaged-food labeling. |
| Crustacean shellfish | shrimp, crab, lobster, crayfish, seafood boils, sushi | surimi / imitation crab ("krab"), seafood flavoring, shellfish stock/bisque, XO sauce, shrimp paste (belacan, terasi, bagoong), fish sauce (often shrimp), oyster sauce, kimchi, langostino sold as "lobster" | The category gap"Contains shellfish" means crustacean. It does not cover molluscs (see below). Restaurants, shared equipment and steam, and "imitation" surimi that still holds real crab all sit outside the rule. |
| Sesame | tahini, hummus, halva, seeds on buns and bagels, za'atar | tahini / tahina, benne, benniseed, gingelly, til, simsim, gomashio, sesamol, sesamolina, halva, za'atar | The newest oneMandatory only since 2023. Some bakeries deliberately ADDED sesame to breads so they could declare it instead of preventing cross-contact, so a "contains sesame" line can appear on a once-safe product. Re-read trusted breads. |
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The allergens US labels can hide
These are not US "major allergens," so a US label does not have to name them at all.
This is the part most charts leave out. The nine above must be declared by name. The five below do not have to be. On a US label they can hide inside "spices," "seasoning," "natural flavoring," "seafood," or "vegetable protein," or sit in the ingredient list with no allergy call-out at all. Two aisles that feel safe are the biggest traps: the "gluten-free" aisle can hold lupin, and the "nut-free" aisle can hold sunflower (SunButter). Most of these are named on EU, UK, Canadian, and Australian labels, so imported products may flag what a domestic one hides. Cooking does not make them safer.
| Allergen | Everyday foods | Hidden names to scan for | Why the US label can stay silent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mustard | condiments, mayo, dressings, marinades, BBQ sauce, pickles, curries, cured meats, some breads | "spices," "seasoning," "natural flavoring," "curry paste"; mustard seed / flour / bran / oil, Sinapis, Brassica | Not a US major allergenHides inside "spices" or "seasoning" with no call-out. Declared by name in the EU, UK, and Canada. Cooked and baked mustard is not safer. |
| Lupin | flour in "free-from" and gluten-free breads, pasta, pastries, protein bakes; lupini beans; some meat substitutes | "gluten-free flour" blend, high-protein flour mix, "vegetable protein," imported bakery; lupin, lupine, lupini, lupin flour / bran, Lupinus | The gluten-free trapNot a US major allergen. "Free-from" means free from the named thing, not from lupin. Declared by name in the EU, UK, and Australia. Baked lupin is not safer. |
| Celery | stock cubes, bouillon, soups, gravies, sauces, spice blends, curry powder, prepared meals, remoulade | "spices," "vegetable stock," "bouillon," "natural flavoring," curry powder, mirepoix; celeriac, celery seed / salt, Apium graveolens | Not a US major allergenA single stock cube or "spices" line can hide it. Declared by name in the EU and UK (Natasha's Law). Celeriac, celery seed, and celery salt are the same allergen, not milder. |
| Sunflower | seeds, sunflower seed butter (SunButter) in "nut-free" and school-safe snacks, bars, granola, seeded breads | "nut-free" / "allergy-friendly" framing, "natural flavoring," "seed blend," "multigrain," unrefined "sunflower oil"; sunflower seed / kernel / butter, sunflower lecithin, Helianthus | Named nowhereNot a US major allergen, and not an EU named one either, so no "contains" line flags it. Read the full list, not the allergy summary. The nut-free aisle is the trap: SunButter is the allergen. |
| Molluscsclam, oyster, mussel, scallop, squid, octopus | calamari, seafood blends, chowder, bisque, paella, fritto misto, oyster and XO sauce, dried scallop, takoyaki | "seafood," "seafood blend," "natural flavoring," surimi / "imitation seafood," oyster sauce, XO sauce, fish sauce, chowder bases; calamari / ika (squid), tako / pulpo (octopus), conpoy | The "shellfish" trapMolluscs are not US major allergens, so "contains shellfish" (which means crustacean) does not guarantee a mollusc was declared. Named in the EU, UK, Canada, and Australia. Note: oyster crackers hold no oyster, and "scalloped" is a cooking method. |
How this chart is built
Every entry is distilled from Every Label's cited, per-allergen label-reading guides. It is avoidance-direction only: it tells you what to watch for, never that a food is safe to eat. That decision belongs with your allergist. Formulations change, so when a term is unclear and the label will not settle it, call the manufacturer.