Causes (1)
- Food poisoning
Symptoms (2)
- Anaphylaxis
- Symptom Checker
Tests and diagnosis (1)
- Allergy skin tests
Treatments and drugs (2)
- Allergy medications: Know your options
- Allergy shots
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Food allergies: Watch food labels for these top 8 allergens
Food labels list food allergens to help you avoid an allergic reaction. Here are the top eight food allergens listed.
By Mayo Clinic staffThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires food manufacturers to list common food allergens on labels in simple terms adults and older children can understand. While not every possible food that can cause a food allergy is listed, these eight foods account for most food allergies. Foods included in the labeling requirements are:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, walnuts)
- Fish (such as bass, cod, flounder)
- Shellfish (such as crab, lobster, shrimp)
- Soy
- Wheat
Understanding food labels
Food labels take some of the guesswork out of label reading, helping you more easily identify foods that could cause an allergic reaction. Current guidelines in the United States require a product's label to clearly state if, for example, a product "contains milk."
Here are answers to a few common questions about food label requirements.
- What foods are labeled? Any domestic or imported packaged food regulated by the FDA is required to have a label that lists whether the product contains one of the top eight allergens.
- What allergy information is included on the label? The label lists the type of allergen — for example, the type of tree nut (almond, walnut) or the type of crustacean shellfish (crab, shrimp) — as well as any ingredient that contains a protein from the eight major food allergens. The labels also include any allergens found in flavorings, colorings or other additives.
- What foods aren't labeled? Fresh produce, fresh meat and certain highly refined oils do not require listing of potential food allergens on the labels. Foods that may inadvertently come into contact with a food allergen during the growing, harvesting or manufacturing process also are exempt. However, although they aren't required to do so, manufacturers may indicate the possibility that trace amounts of allergy-causing foods may be included.
(1 of 2)
- Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004. U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/alrgact.html. Accessed Oct. 12, 2008.
- Questions and answers on the gluten-free labeling proposed rule. U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/glutqa.html. Accessed Oct. 12, 2008.
- Food labeling; current trends in the use of allergen advisory labeling: Its use, effectiveness, and consumer perception; public hearing; request for comments. U.S Food and Drug Administration. http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr080808.html.
