5 Foods with Surprising Allergens

With reported food allergy cases on the rise worldwide, and the potentially life-threatening consequences when an allergen is undeclared on a product’s labelling, it’s essential that food businesses thoroughly check every ingredient in their recipes for the presence of allergens.

To protect consumers, by law you need to list all recognised food allergens on your products’ labelling in line with the local allergen legislation governing each world region/country you supply your products to.

If you buy in some of your recipes’ ingredients, we recommend that you always carefully read the ingredients list on your suppliers’ specifications, to validate that all allergens are correctly listed based on the ingredients involved. It’s always possible that a supplier may have overlooked naming an allergen. Also, if you change an ingredient supplier, do be aware that the allergens within the product may also be different.

Whilst there are some allergens you’d probably expect to find in certain foods and ingredients, it can be easy to overlook the less obvious allergens – especially as they are sometimes listed in the ingredients using terminology which doesn’t name the allergen itself.

We’ve therefore rounded up our top five foods containing certain allergens whose presence in the ingredients might surprise you. All allergens mentioned are officially recognised by food labelling legislation covering the United States and/or UK/EU regions.

More than ‘meats’ the eye – milk in processed meats
You’d probably expect some processed meats to contain wheat flour gluten, soya and sesame – three of the major food allergens recognised by the UK, EU and in North America. In the UK and EU, sulphur dioxide/sulphite allergen is also common.

However, it might surprise you that these meats can also contain milk allergen due to the presence of casein. This milk protein can be used as a filler to reduce the overall quantity of meat ingredient in products such as hot dogs, certain sausages (e.g. breakfast and Italian), and hard salami, without affecting their taste and texture. Also, deli-style meats may contain casein to act as a binding agent.

As another major food allergen recognised in both regions, milk or milk-derived ingredients must be listed on the labelling. Casein may be referred to as ‘milk protein’. Alternatively, any of the following terms may indicate its presence: ammonium caseinate, calcium caseinate, hydrolysed casein, iron caseinate, magnesium caseinate, potassium caseinate, sodium caseinate, and zinc caseinate.

Deep diving gravy – counting on unexpected allergens
You might expect gravy powder mixes’ base ingredients to contain food allergens such as wheat flour gluten, milk-derived butter, and soya.

However, there can be a whole range of other allergens present too.

Gravy mixes may also contain eggs and peanuts – another two of the major food allergens recognised by both regions. In addition, mustard, celery and sulphur dioxide can also be present – three additional allergens recognised under UK and EU food law.

These other allergen ingredients can be added for various reasons, ranging from enhancing the flavour to thickening and preserving the gravy mix.

Celery in bacon – the raw facts
You might expect to find sulphur dioxide allergen as a common ingredient used to cure bacon. This helps to preserve and enhance the meat’s flavour and its pink colour, as well as to stop bacterial growth.

However, sometimes celery juice or powder is substituted for sulphur dioxide – often referred to as uncured bacon. The preservation process uses naturally occurring nitrates/nitrites found in vegetables instead, as these are believed to be less harmful than the synthetically sourced artificial nitrates found in sulphur dioxide.

As an additional UK and EU allergen, celery must be listed in the ingredients. In the United States, uncured bacon must be labelled accordingly and list the naturally occurring vegetable nitrates/nitrites, such as celery.

Sauces under the surface – the (soy) sauce within a sauce
Soya, also known as soy, is widely used in foods and is difficult to avoid, with as many as 60% of manufactured foods containing the allergen.

You might not expect to find soy sauce used as a sub-ingredient in several popular sauces around the world, including Worcester, sweet & sour and Teriyaki. It’s often included in these sauces to help achieve the ‘umami’ flavour – one of the five basic tastes alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter – providing a more subtle, rich savoury taste that deepens flavour. In addition, it can help to season dishes with a salty taste without the need to add salt.

Soy sauce itself can also contain wheat flour gluten allergen.

Battered & fried foods – a chicken and egg situation
Whilst you’d probably expect battered and fried foods to contain gluten from wheat flour cereal, you might not expect to find eggs in the list of ingredients.

Breaded foods often use egg protein as a binding agent, to hold ingredients together. This is because when egg proteins set, they can react with other ingredients to bind them together – giving them the desired strength, structure, and texture. Eggs are therefore often used to coat foods with breadcrumbs or flour. This process also helps to create a browned appearance when the food is cooked.

As a major food allergen in both regions, eggs should be listed in the ingredients. Sometimes they may be listed under an alternative name, such as apovitellin, livetin, lysozyme, and ovalbumin.

Be proactive with international solutions
TraceGains NutriCalc’s nutrition calculation software can help simplify your management of allergens. Easily identify any of the standard allergens required to be highlighted by law in key world regions, add your own custom allergens if legislation in the country you’re supplying to identifies different allergens, and be guided through vital ingredient allergen checks. As the industry standard calculation software for over 30 years, we’re also experts in allergen labelling law.
NutriCalc is available as a standalone solution, or as part of TraceGains’ Networked Product Development Suite, fully integrated with TraceGains’ trusted solutions for Formula and Specification Management.