Nutrition Facts Panel: Ingredients and Allergen Labeling

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The nutrition label maker allows now to add an ingredient list and allergen declaration, as well as an address.

Ingredient label

The format and content of the ingredient label is regulated by the Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, section 101.4.

You have to input the list of ingredients in descending order of weight, separated by comma. The common or usual name of the ingredients must be used usually. For more information, refer to the above regulation. You can also find a FAQ here.

Note that the ingredient list must be on the same label panel as the allergen declaration and the name and address of the manufacturer, packer or distributor. Make sure to include the allergen and the address on the nutrition facts panel as well if you select to include the list of ingredients.

Allergen labeling

The format and content of the food allergens labeling is regulated by the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA). For more information, see the FDA site.

To include the list of allergens, select which allergens that are included in the product among the following list of major food allergens:

• Milk
• Egg
• Fish
• Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, or shrimp)
• Tree nuts (e.g., almonds, pecans, or walnuts)
• Wheat (i.e. any species in the genus Triticum, e.g., spelt, kamut, or triticale)
• Peanuts
• Soybeans

Under FALCPA, a major food allergen is included in the product of it contains any of the above food groups or protein derived from one of them.

In the case of fish, crustacean shellfish and tree nuts, you must additionally specify the exact species or type.

The allergen declaration does not have to be included on the label if the list of ingredients contains already the name of its major food allergens. If the name of the ingredient is different from the name of the allergen, it can contain its food source in parenthesis after the ingredient name. For example: whey (milk). However, you include the allergen labeling, you must list all the major allergens, even those already present in the ingredient list.

Here is below lists of ingredients that may contain one of the major allergen. For more information, see also the site of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN).

Ingredients containing milk protein

Here is a non-exhaustive list of ingredients containing milk proteins. If your product contains any of these ingredients, the ingredient label should contain the word milk, either in the ingredient list or in the allergen labeling:

• butter, butter fat, butter oil, butter
• acid, butter ester(s)
• buttermilk
• casein
• casein hydrolysate
• caseinates (in all forms)
• cheese
• cottage cheese
• cream
• curds
• custard
• diacetyl
• ghee
• half-and-half
• lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate
• lactoferrin
• lactose
• lactulose
• milk (in all forms, including condensed, derivative, dry, evaporated, goat’s milk and milk from other animals, low fat, malted, milkfat, nonfat, powder, protein, skimmed, solids, whole)
• milk protein hydrolysate
• pudding
• Recaldent®
• rennet casein
• sour cream, sour cream solids
• sour milk solids
• tagatose
• whey (in all forms)
• whey protein hydrolysate
• yogurt

Ingredients containing egg protein

Here is a non-exhaustive list of ingredients containing egg proteins. If your product contains any of these ingredients, the ingredient label should contain the word egg, either in the ingredient list or in the allergen labeling:

• albumin (also spelled albumen)
• egg (dried, powdered, solids, white, yolk)
• eggnog
• lysozyme
• mayonnaise
• meringue (meringue powder)
• ovalbumin
• surimi

Ingredients containing crustacean shellfish protein

Here is a non-exhaustive list of ingredients containing crustacean shellfish proteins. If your product contains any of these ingredients, the ingredient label should contain the name of the specific shellfish, either in the ingredient list or in the allergen labeling:

• barnacle
• crab
• crawfish (crawdad, crayfish, ecrevisse)
• krill
• lobster (langouste, langoustine, Moreton bay bugs, scampi, tomalley)
• prawns
• shrimp (crevette, scampi)

Ingredients containing tree nuts protein

Here is a non-exhaustive list of ingredients containing tree nuts proteins. If your product contains any of these ingredients, the ingredient label should contain the name of the specific tree nut, either in the ingredient list or in the allergen labeling:

• almond
• artificial nuts
• beechnut
• Brazil nut
• butternut
• cashew
• chestnut
• chinquapin
• coconut
• filbert/hazelnut
• gianduja (a chocolate-nut mixture)
• ginkgo nut
• hickory nut
• litchi/lichee/lychee nut
• macadamia nut
• marzipan/almond paste
• Nangai nut
• natural nut extract (e.g., almond, walnut)
• nut butters (e.g., cashew butter)
• nut meal
• nut meat
• nut paste (e.g., almond paste)
• nut pieces
• pecan
• pesto
• pili nut
• pine nut (also referred to as Indian, pignoli, pigñolia, pignon, piñon, and pinyon nut)
• pistachio
• praline
• shea nut
• walnut

Ingredients containing wheat protein

The law defines any species in the genus Triticum as wheat. It includes grains such as common wheat, durum wheat, club wheat, spelt, semolina, einkorn, emmer, kamut, and triticale.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of ingredients containing wheat proteins. If your product contains any of these ingredients, the ingredient label should contain the word wheat, either in the ingredient list or in the allergen labeling:

• bread crumbs
• bulgur
• cereal extract
• club wheat
• couscous
• cracker meal
• durum
• einkorn
• emmer
• farina
• flour (all purpose, bread, cake, durum, enriched, graham, high gluten, high protein, instant, pastry, self-rising, soft
  wheat, steel ground, stone ground, whole wheat)
• hydrolyzed wheat
• protein
• Kamut®
• matzoh, matzoh meal (also spelled as matzo, matzah, or matza)
• pasta
• seitan
• semolina

Ingredients containing peanuts protein

Here is a non-exhaustive list of ingredients that contain or may contain peanuts proteins. If your product contains any of these ingredients, the ingredient label should contain the word peanuts, either in the ingredient list or in the allergen labeling:

• artificial nuts
• beer nuts
• cold pressed, expeller pressed, or extruded peanut oil
• goobers
• ground nuts
• mixed nuts
• monkey nuts
• nut meat
• nut pieces
• peanut butter
• peanut flour
• peanut protein hydrolysate

Ingredients containing soy protein

Here is a non-exhaustive list of ingredients containing soy proteins. If your product contains any of these ingredients, the ingredient label should contain the word soybeans, either in the ingredient list or in the allergen labeling:

• edamame
• miso
• natto
• shoyu
• soy (soy albumin, soy cheese, soy fiber, soy flour, soy grits, soy ice cream, soy milk, soy nuts, soy sprouts, soy yogurt)
• soya
• soybean (curd, granules)
• soy protein (concentrate, hydrolyzed, isolate)
• soy sauce
• tamari
• tempeh
• textured vegetable protein (TVP)
• tofu