Major Food Allergens by Country: US Top 9, EU 14, Japan, Korea, Canada and More

Every country decides which allergens food labels have to name, and the lists are not the same. The US “top 9” are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. The EU and UK name 14, adding celery, mustard, lupin, molluscs and sulphites. Japan names 9 that must be declared and about 20 more that should be. If your allergy is not on the destination country’s list, labels there do not have to mention it.

The US top 9

Under US law, packaged food must declare these nine major food allergens:

1. Milk
2. Eggs
3. Fish
4. Crustacean shellfish (shrimp, crab, lobster)
5. Tree nuts
6. Peanuts
7. Wheat
8. Soybeans
9. Sesame (added on January 1, 2023)

The list was eight until sesame was added by the FASTER Act. Since January 2025, FDA guidance also counts milk from goats and sheep as “milk” and eggs from ducks and quail as “eggs.” Molluscs (clams, oysters, squid) are not on the US list.

The EU and UK 14

The same 14 apply to restaurants, not just packaged food: under EU Regulation 1169/2011, cafés and restaurants must be able to tell you which of them are in each dish.

Side by side

✓ = must be declared. “Recommended” = manufacturers are asked to declare it but don’t have to. – = not on the list.

Country notes

• Canada names ten priority allergens (eggs, milk, mustard, peanuts, crustaceans and molluscs, fish, sesame, soy, tree nuts, wheat and triticale) and also requires gluten sources and added sulphites to be declared.
• Australia and New Zealand moved to Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) in February 2024, which requires each tree nut to be named individually (almond, Brazil nut, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, pine nut, pistachio, walnut) along with lupin, sesame, molluscs and gluten cereals.
• Japan requires 9 allergens: shrimp, crab, walnut, cashew (from April 2026), wheat, buckwheat, egg, milk and peanut. About 20 more, including almond, sesame, soy and macadamia, are recommended only. See our Japan allergen guide.
• South Korea requires 19 groups, including pork, beef, chicken, peach and tomato, but not sesame or tree nuts in general. See our Korea guide.
• Taiwan has required 11 groups since July 2020, including mango and sesame.
• Mainland China has had voluntary allergen labelling; the new standard GB 7718-2025 makes 8 groups mandatory from March 16, 2027.

What it means when you travel

1. Check if your allergen is on the local list. Sesame is not on Korea’s list; mustard and celery are on the EU’s but not the US list; buckwheat is mandatory in Japan and Korea but nowhere in the West.
2. “Recommended” means “maybe.” In Japan, a product can contain sesame or soy and not say so prominently.
3. Restaurants are a separate question. Only the EU and UK make restaurants tell you about allergens. Elsewhere you have to ask, which is where a card in the local language does the work.

Common questions

What are the top 9 allergens?

Milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. These are the nine major food allergens that US food labels must declare.

What are the 14 allergens?

The EU and UK list: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin, and molluscs.

When was sesame added to the US allergen list?

Sesame became the ninth major food allergen in the US on January 1, 2023, under the FASTER Act.

Why do countries have different allergen lists?

Lists follow what people in that country eat and react to. Buckwheat is a major allergen in Japan and Korea because soba and naengmyeon are everyday food; mustard and celery are on the EU list because they are common in European cooking; mango is on Taiwan’s.