Common Food Allergens

To learn more about food allergy, we recommend the following video by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Nine foods account for 90 percent of all food allergy reactions:

  • Peanuts
  • Tree nuts (cashews, pecans, walnuts, etc.)
  • Milk
  • Egg
  • Wheat
  • Soy
  • Fish (halibut, salmon, etc.)
  • Shellfish (crab, lobster, shrimp, etc.)
  • Sesame

While more than 170 foods can cause allergic reactions in people with food allergies, the law identifies the nine most common allergenic foods. Visit FAACT's Education Resource Center for FREE and downloadable resources.

Sesame is recognized as the ninth major allergen, effective January 1, 2023, and must be labeled in plain language on packaged foods in the U.S. 


References

FDA.gov. (2018). What You Need to Know about Food Allergies. [online]