Major Food Allergen Revamp: Coconuts Are Out; Quail Eggs and Goat Milk Are In (Among Others)

In the final weeks of the Biden administration, FDA released a blitz of new and proposed regulations and updated guidance for industry. One of the many recently issued FDA guidance documents is the final Questions and Answers Regarding Food Allergens, Including the Food Allergen Labeling Requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Edition 5). The nine major food allergens that must be declared on all FDA-regulated food labels are established by Congress and cannot be revised by FDA. Those are: milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, sesame, fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod), crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp) and tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans).  FDA can, however, further define what falls into the categories of major food allergens, allowing FDA the flexibility to better define tree nuts in response to requests from industry and to expand the number of species from which egg and milk allergens may be derived.

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