The FDA considers nine categories of food as major allergens that must be clearly labeled on packaged foods.

FDA major food allergens

These are the foods (or food groups) currently recognized as major allergens by the FDA:

  • Milk
  • Eggs
  • Fish (e.g., bass, cod, flounder)
  • Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp)
  • Tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans)
  • Peanuts
  • Wheat
  • Soybeans
  • Sesame (added as the ninth major allergen starting in 2023)

These nine account for the vast majority of serious allergic reactions and therefore have special mandatory labeling requirements in the U.S.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.