The 14 Major Allergens Every Restaurant Must Handle
The FDA's 14 major food allergens, what counts as a 'major' allergen, and how to build a kitchen process that handles all of them without slowing service.
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Nine became fourteen. For most of the restaurant industry's history the working list of allergens to watch was the "Big 8", then the "Big 9" after sesame was added in 2018. Since January 2023 the US reference list has been the 14 major allergens — and that number is the single most consequential change allergen compliance has seen in a generation.
This is a practical guide to what the 14 are, why the list exists, and what a functioning kitchen process looks like when you have to handle all of them at once on a Saturday night.
The 14 major food allergens
Under the US Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA), these 14 must be declared:
| # | Allergen | Common sources in a restaurant |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milk | Cream, butter, cheese, yoghurt, custards |
| 2 | Eggs | Mayonnaise, aioli, meringue, some breads |
| 3 | Fish | Anchovy, bonito, fish sauce, Worcestershire |
| 4 | Crustacean shellfish | Crab, lobster, prawn, shrimp, langoustine |
| 5 | Tree nuts | Almond, cashew, walnut, pistachio, hazelnut |
| 6 | Peanuts | Peanut oil, satay, groundnut, some spice blends |
| 7 | Wheat | Soy sauce, seitan, bulgur, couscous, breadcrumb |
| 8 | Soy | Tofu, tempeh, miso, edamame, most dressings |
| 9 | Sesame | Tahini, sesame oil, hummus, benne seed |
| 10 | Mustard | Prepared mustard, horseradish, pickling liquid |
| 11 | Celery | Stock, mirepoix, soup bases, gravy |
| 12 | Lupin | Seeds, some specialty flours, protein powders |
| 13 | Molluscs | Mussels, clams, oysters, squid, octopus, snail |
| 14 | Sulphur dioxide | Dried fruit, some wine, preservatives |
Why sesame, mustard, celery, lupin and molluscs joined
Each addition reflected genuine clinical signal, not political pressure:
- Sesame — added to the US list in 2018 after a wave of severe reactions, notably a 2017 Southwest Airlines incident involving a fatality. It is the most under-recognised major allergen in Western kitchens because it reads as a "tahini thing" rather than a protocol item.
- Mustard, celery and lupin — added in the EU's FIC 14-allergen framework because these are frequent culprits in children with severe reactions. Chefs trained only on the US 9 will not recognise celery as a declaration-worthy allergen.
- Molluscs — mollusc and crustacean allergies are biologically distinct. A guest with a crustacean allergy can be severely allergic to molluscs, and vice versa. Treating them as one "seafood" category is a clinical error.
- Sulphur dioxide — the only non-protein addition. At high enough concentration it provokes asthmatic reactions, which is why cellar workers report sulphite sensitivity.
The eight that cause roughly 90% of reactions
Managing 14 sounds harder than it is. The distribution of reactions is heavily skewed:
| Allergen group | Share of reported reactions |
|---|---|
| Peanuts | ~20–25% |
| Tree nuts | ~15–20% |
| Shellfish (crustacean) | ~10–15% |
| Milk | ~10% |
| Wheat / gluten | ~7–10% |
| Eggs | ~5% |
| Soy | ~2–3% |
| Fish | ~2% |
| Sesame, mustard, celery, lupin, molluscs, sulphites | ~2–5% combined |
This matters operationally: the eight at the top drive your volume of risk and justify the investment in dedicated equipment and a documented process. The remaining six are lower frequency but include some of the most severe reactions, so they cannot be handled on a "rare enough to wing it" basis.
What a compliant process actually looks like
Regulators do not require a specific protocol. They require that you can demonstrate a reasonable process was followed and that staff were informed. In practice that means five things:
1. A written, versioned allergen matrix
One page per menu item listing every allergen present and every plausible cross-contact risk, with a date and a name against it. If this lives in a WhatsApp group it is not a record.
2. Documented cross-contact controls
Controls are physical before they are procedural. Colour-coded boards and knives, dedicated fryers, dedicated utensils stored separately, and a clear rule about what may and may not touch a board.
3. Staff who can answer "can I eat this?"
This is the failure point in almost every audit. A server who cannot state whether a dish is safe is the single most likely cause of a reportable incident. Training must be assessed, not delivered and forgotten.
4. Escalation defined in writing
Who stops service? Who informs the kitchen? Who tells the guest? A written escalation path removes the hesitation that causes an incident to be handled badly in the moment.
5. A record you would survive an inspection with
Ingredient lists with dates, training attendance, incident reports, and any remedial action. An inspection is a retrieval exercise: can you produce these quickly and coherently?
The mistake almost everyone makes
Treating allergens as a labelling exercise. "We print the 14 on the menu" satisfies the letter of US labelling rules and does nothing about the guest who is actually eating in your restaurant tonight. Labelling applies to packaged food; hospitality risk is about the process behind the plate.
The second common mistake is assuming a dedicated fryer solves it. It solves one vector and creates another — if the same fryer oil is used to cook a battered item containing wheat, then a "gluten-free" item fried in it is not gluten-free, and telling a coeliac guest it is is a serious misstatement.
Where to start if you are behind
Audit every item against all 14 within two weeks, even if you believe you only serve six. The long tail is where the surprises live: sesame oil in a dressing, celery in a stock, mustard in a marinade. Then put the top eight under real controls and handle the rest by process. Perfection across 14 simultaneously is not the target; a documented, defensible and consistent approach is.