Printable Food Allergy Labels (FREE Downloadable PDF)

Why Use the Food Allergy Label?

Simply put, not putting some allergy labels on your food products can be harmful. Let’s see it from 2 perspectives:

• The risk for people eating the food. At a severe level, allergic reactions can manifest into breathing difficulty, severe coughing, throat swelling, or even anaphylactic shock, which ultimately leads to death.¹ It gets trickier as some people could suddenly develop allergies at any age because of various stress factors. So, having a label or a list of ingredients helps customers understand that certain ingredients are used in the food.
• The risk for people making the food. Congress passed the FALCPA law requiring F&B companies and services to display their ingredients on the packaging, especially allergenic ones. This law doesn’t apply to made-to-order foods (a.k.a. restaurant foods).^{2 3} However, placing some food allergy labels on takeaway foods is still a good practice. It’s a way to prevent a lawsuit for providing incorrect information about allergen content.⁴

What is the Food Allergy Label?

A food allergy label is a list of food allergens you can print and put on your foods. It serves as a warning that you’re using certain food allergens when making the food.

More than 170 foods are known to trigger allergic reactions. The nine major food allergens identified by law in the U.S. are milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame.

This article provides labels for the nine major food allergens. These labels are by no means a foolproof method of protecting allergic customers, but they’re a good start.

Ideally, allergens are written with their source. For example, “whey (milk),” “lecithin (soy),” and “flour (wheat).” Another way to write them is using “contains” (e.g., “contains milk, soy, and wheat”).²

Pre-packaged food products sometimes use more vague terms such as “may contain,” “manufactured in a shared facility,” or “processed on the same equipment.”³ These words imply that cross-contamination might happen, yet they’re still legal as the law doesn’t regulate the use of these statements.

We’ll cover how to read the ingredient lists for people with allergies in another article.

How to Use the Food Allergy Labels?

The following is the procedure for using the food allergy labels in this page:

• We’ve prepared two kinds of labels for you: the “individual” label and the “all-in-one” label.
• The “individual allergen” labels consist of nine labels with icons and text for the major food allergens: milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish, crustacean shellfish, and sesame. You can print them on sticker paper and place multiple labels on your food products.
• The “all-in-one” labels list the nine major food allergens on each. Tick the check box according to your food product, place the label on the packaging, and write down your product’s name.

What are the Benefits of Using a Food Allergy Label?

A food allergy label helps to inform the ingredients of a food, mainly if it contains allergens.

By informing the ingredients, you encourage people with allergies to check on them before eating. This habit reduces the risk of exposure and prevents anaphylaxis from happening.

Furthermore, changes in a product’s ingredients can happen at any moment. A food allergy label is especially useful in helping people with special health conditions notice them.

Who should Use the Food Allergy Label? When?

• Business with made-to-order foods (e.g., café, hotels, restaurants, etc.). The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA) doesn’t require an allergy label for restaurant foods.^{3 5} However, you can improve your customers’ service by taking the initiative to provide allergy labels using our templates.
• People preparing a party, gathering, or other events with foods. Some of your guests might unknowingly be allergic to certain ingredients. Putting a food allergy label is a good first step. Preparing a printed list of ingredients for your foods will be even better. Also, avoid cross-contamination by cooking and serving non-allergen foods using separate utensils from other foods you prepare. If allergic reactions appear after consuming the foods, stop eating and use emergency medicines (epinephrine). Seek medical help immediately.