EU 14 allergens list

The 14 Annex II substances, emphasised in ingredients and available before distance-sale purchase

Direct answer. Annex II of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 lists fourteen substances or products causing allergies or intolerances. Article 21 requires those names to appear in the ingredient list with a typeset that clearly distinguishes them from the rest of the list (for example font, style, or background colour). For prepacked foods offered by distance communication, Article 14 requires mandatory food information — including those Annex II particulars — to be available before the purchase is concluded, and all mandatory particulars at delivery (the date of minimum durability / use-by is the Article 14 exception). Confirm the live annex, including its exceptions. This page is not legal advice.

EU Food Info Guard (Shopify App Store · Write a review) detects the 14 EU Annex II allergens from ingredient text, flags an allergen the ingredients mention but the declared list omits, and can sync a storefront theme block via an app-owned metafield. It does not determine legal compliance. This page is the Annex II list reading aid — not the full before-purchase FIC walkthrough.

Related: FibreLedger Textile Labels — EU fibre composition uses Annex I names.

Free check first: EU food label particulars checklist runs in your browser and sends nothing. Paste food label text and see which mandatory particulars and Annex II allergens it names.

Checklist: Annex II on a distance-sale page

• Read live Annex II on EUR-Lex; use that list, including exceptions, not a nickname card.
• In the ingredient list, emphasise the Annex II name so it is clearly distinguished (Art. 21).
• If there is no ingredient list, Art. 21 uses “contains” followed by the Annex II name.
• For distance selling, make that allergen information available before purchase (Art. 14), not only on the parcel.
• Re-check the live annex after any amendment before you treat a fourteenth item as fixed forever.

The fourteen Annex II entries, as listed

Annex II is titled “Substances or products causing allergies or intolerances.” The fourteen numbered entries, as listed there, are:

1. Cereals containing gluten, namely: wheat (such as spelt and khorasan wheat), rye, barley, oats and their hybridised strains, and products thereof, except the exceptions written in the annex
2. Crustaceans and products thereof
3. Eggs and products thereof
4. Fish and products thereof, except the exceptions written in the annex
5. Peanuts and products thereof
6. Soybeans and products thereof, except the exceptions written in the annex
7. Milk and products thereof (including lactose), except the exceptions written in the annex
8. Nuts, namely almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio nuts, macadamia or Queensland nuts, and products thereof, except the exceptions written in the annex
9. Celery and products thereof
10. Mustard and products thereof
11. Sesame seeds and products thereof
12. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at concentrations of more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre in terms of the total SO2, calculated as the annex states
13. Lupin and products thereof
14. Molluscs and products thereof

The annex writes scientific names for the nuts and detailed exceptions for several entries. This numbered list is a reading aid. Use the live annex for those exceptions and for any later update under Article 21(2).

Emphasis in the ingredient list (Art. 21)

Article 21(1) requires the Annex II name to be indicated in the list of ingredients with a clear reference to the name as listed in Annex II, and to be emphasised through a typeset that clearly distinguishes it from the rest of the list, “for example by means of the font, style or background colour.” Where there is no ingredient list, the indication comprises the word “contains” followed by that Annex II name. Where several ingredients originate from a single Annex II substance, the labelling must make that clear for each. The particular is not required where the name of the food clearly refers to the substance. Confirm the live article; this is a paraphrase.

Available before purchase in distance selling (Art. 14)

Article 14(1)(a) requires mandatory food information, except the particulars in Article 9(1)(f) (date of minimum durability or ‘use by’), to be available before the purchase is concluded for prepacked foods offered by distance communication, on the material supporting the distance selling or through other appropriate means clearly identified by the food business operator, without supplementary cost. Article 14(1)(b) requires all mandatory particulars at delivery. Allergen information is a mandatory particular under Article 9(1)(c). A sticker only on the parcel is not the before-purchase duty. The product-page job that applies this to Shopify is Food allergen labels before purchase.

What this page is not

• Not legal advice, a lab assay, or a recipe calculator.
• Not a substitute for live Annex II, including exceptions and later updates.
• Not the full FIC product-page walkthrough. That URL is allergen info before purchase.

Related pages

• EU food label particulars checklist — paste label text and see which particulars it names
• Food allergen labels before purchase — product-page duty, not only the list
• Allergen in ingredients missing from the declared list — a FIC gap when the ingredient text and the declared list disagree
• EU food QUID — ingredient percentage under the same food-information regulation
• EU Food Info Guard — live App Store listing
• Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on EUR-Lex
• Shopify apps hub
• Tools

Not legal advice. Confirm Annex II and Articles 14 and 21 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on EUR-Lex before you treat a list or a product page as complete. The app organizes allergen data you enter.