US vs EU vs UK vs Australia: Comparing the World's Food Allergen Lists

Once we had written up the US, EU, UK, and Australia/NZ lists separately, the differences were more interesting side by side than they were one at a time. Family spread across several of these countries, four different sets of label rules, and one table would have saved us a lot of separate reading.

Direct Answer: Milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat/gluten cereals, soybeans, and sesame are mandatory allergen labels in the US, EU, UK, and Australia/NZ alike; celery, mustard, sulphites, lupin, and molluscs are required in the EU, UK, and (mostly) Australia/NZ, but not in the US.

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The four lists, side by side

Allergen	US (FDA, 9)	EU (14)	UK (14)	Australia/NZ
Milk	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Eggs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fish	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Crustacean shellfish	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tree nuts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Peanuts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wheat / gluten cereals	Yes (wheat)	Yes (gluten cereals)	Yes (gluten cereals)	Yes (gluten cereals)
Soybeans	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sesame	Yes (since 2023)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Celery	No	Yes	Yes	No
Mustard	No	Yes	Yes	No
Sulphites	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lupin	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Molluscs	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

What's universal vs what varies

Milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, peanuts, tree nuts, soybeans, and sesame are required everywhere on this list. Wheat is required everywhere too, though the EU, UK, and Australia/NZ fold it into a broader 'gluten-containing cereals' category rather than naming wheat specifically. The real divergence is celery, mustard, sulphites, lupin, and molluscs: all five required across EU, UK, and Australia/NZ (bar celery and mustard in Australia/NZ), and none of the five required in the US. If you are only used to reading US labels, those are the ones that will catch you off guard elsewhere.

Why this matters for travelling or relocating families

If your family splits time across regions, or you've moved since starting solids, the list your paediatrician originally worked from may not match the one on the label in front of you now. A product that's clearly marked in the EU for containing celery might say nothing about it in the US, not because it's hidden, just because celery isn't a US-mandated disclosure. Worth checking which list applies before assuming a label means the same thing everywhere.

Read the full breakdown for your region

Each list gets its own detail in the US's 9, the EU's 14, the UK's 14 and Natasha's Law, and Australia/NZ's list, including what's changed most recently in each.

One app, four regions

The app's allergen schedule switches to the correct list automatically based on your region setting — US, EU, UK, or Australia/NZ — so you're always tracking against the list that actually applies to the labels in front of you.

Questions parents ask

Which food allergens require mandatory labelling in the UK but not in the US and Australia?

Celery and mustard must be labelled in the UK but not in the US or Australia/NZ. Sulphites, lupin and molluscs are required in the UK and Australia/NZ but not the US. So compared with the US, the UK adds five: celery, mustard, sulphites, lupin and molluscs. Milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, peanuts, tree nuts, soybeans, sesame and wheat or gluten cereals are required in all three.

Source: FSA: allergen guidance for food businesses; FDA: FASTER Act, sesame as the ninth major food allergen; FSANZ: allergen labelling; EU Regulation 1169/2011, Annex II

Does celery have to be labelled on food in the US?

No, celery is not a mandatory allergen disclosure in the US, so a US label may say nothing about it. A product clearly marked for celery in the EU might not mention it in the US, not because it is hidden, but because celery is not on the FDA's list of nine. Celery must be labelled in the EU and UK, but not in Australia/NZ.

Source: FDA: FASTER Act, sesame as the ninth major food allergen; EU Regulation 1169/2011, Annex II; FSA: allergen guidance for food businesses; FSANZ: allergen labelling

Is wheat labelled differently in the US and the EU?

Yes. US and Australia/NZ labels name wheat specifically, while the EU and UK list wheat under the broader 'cereals containing gluten' category. Wheat must be declared in all four regions either way, only the wording differs. Sesame is another allergen with a regional difference: it is required everywhere on the list, but in the US only since 2023.

Source: FDA: FASTER Act, sesame as the ninth major food allergen; FSANZ: allergen labelling; EU Regulation 1169/2011, Annex II; FSA: allergen guidance for food businesses

What should I check about allergen labels if we move countries after starting solids?

Check which allergen list applies where you now live before assuming a label means the same thing. The list your paediatrician originally worked from may not match the label in front of you. In the Log app, the allergen schedule switches to the correct list (US, EU, UK or Australia/NZ) based on your region setting, so you track against the labels you are actually reading.

Source: Log: allergen lists by region; Log: Baby Solid Food & Allergy feature list (llms-full.txt)