New research out of France is turning the spotlight on a pressing issue in food safety: the need to update mandatory food allergen labelling in Europe and beyond. The findings, published on August 20, 2025, and reported by New Scientist and other outlets, reveal that a significant portion of severe food allergy reactions are triggered by ingredients not currently listed among the 14 major allergens required by law to appear on food packaging in the UK and European Union.
Allergies are on the rise, and scientists have long debated the reasons—some point to children spending more time indoors and less time exposed to the natural world and other kids, which may leave immune systems less prepared for environmental and dietary challenges. Whatever the cause, there’s no denying the growing number of people allergic to everything from their pets to their favorite foods. For those living with food allergies, the stakes are high: anaphylaxis, a rapid and potentially fatal allergic reaction, can strike within minutes of exposure to a trigger.
According to a French research team led by Dominique Sabouraud-Leclerc at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Reims, about one in seven food-induced anaphylaxis cases are caused by foods that fly under the regulatory radar. Their analysis, which examined nearly 3,000 cases reported to the Allergy-Vigilance Network (RAV) from 2002 to 2023, zeroed in on “emerging” allergens—those not on the EU’s mandatory labelling list but responsible for at least 1 percent of severe reactions.
The culprits, as it turns out, aren’t always the usual suspects. The study identified eight emerging allergens: goat or sheep milk, buckwheat, peas and lentils, pine nuts, kiwi, apples, beehive products (including edible pollen, honey, and royal jelly), and alpha-gal, a sugar present in red meat and other mammalian products. Together, these unlabelled allergens accounted for around 14 percent of all anaphylaxis cases in the study—no small number when lives are on the line.
Some of these foods were especially dangerous. Goat and sheep cheese, for example, was linked to particularly severe reactions, especially in young boys, and tragically resulted in two deaths. These dairy products also had the highest rates of recurring reactions and hidden exposures—meaning people were repeatedly caught off guard by allergens lurking in foods they hadn’t expected. Peas and lentils, buckwheat, and pine nuts also showed a troubling pattern of recurrent reactions, suggesting that their presence in foods is both widespread and not always obvious.
Sabouraud-Leclerc and her colleagues argue that the time is ripe for regulators to act. “We therefore believe it is time to review the list of the 14 foods with mandatory labelling to include at least the most severe of these emerging food allergens,” she told New Scientist. The researchers specifically recommend adding goat and sheep milk, buckwheat, peas and lentils, and pine nuts to the EU’s list of allergens that must be highlighted on food packaging. Their reasoning is based on the frequency, severity, recurrence, and potential for hidden exposure associated with these foods.
To put the current rules in context, food businesses in the UK and EU are presently required to highlight 14 major allergens: celery, cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, rye, barley, and oats), crustaceans (like prawns, crabs, and lobsters), eggs, fish, lupin (a legume related to peanuts), milk, molluscs (such as mussels and oysters), mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, and tree nuts (including almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, and others). However, the last major update to this list was back in 2011—a long time in the fast-evolving world of food science and manufacturing.
What’s more, the issue isn’t limited to the European continent. Sabouraud-Leclerc believes that while the study data came mainly from France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, the findings are relevant elsewhere, with the specific prevalence of allergens shifting according to local diets. “Our main goal is to protect allergic consumers and ensure they have access to clear information,” she said. “If we manage to update the EU list, that might inspire other countries to follow, kind of like a snowball effect.”
The call for change isn’t coming only from scientists. Allergy UK, a leading charity, has echoed these concerns and pushed for even broader reforms. Simone Miles, chief executive at Allergy UK, emphasized the importance of comprehensive ingredient labelling. “We are calling for full ingredient labelling on all food products, as even lesser-known allergens can cause serious reactions and life-threatening anaphylaxis,” Miles said. She also highlighted the growing problem of pea protein, which is increasingly used as an ingredient in a wide variety of foods, sometimes in places consumers might not expect. Despite this, pea is not required by law to be listed among allergens.
Miles also expressed frustration with the current state of food labelling, citing vague “may contain” warnings, small print, and confusing ingredient lists that leave consumers in the dark about what’s really in their food. The problem is exacerbated by the rise of online marketplaces like TikTok Shop, where products often lack clear and accurate labelling. “This is a growing risk for people with allergies, and we are urging consumers to be cautious and always check the label, while calling on regulators and retailers to take urgent action,” said Miles.
The scale of the challenge is enormous. Allergy UK estimates that around 21 million people in the UK alone live with some form of allergy. The charity is also advocating for the creation of a food anaphylaxis registry—a centralized database that would help the medical profession better understand why life-threatening reactions occur, and ultimately reduce their frequency. “This would help the medical profession understand why life-threatening anaphylaxis occurs,” Miles explained. “This is a crucial step to ensure the risks of this happening to anyone again in the future are significantly reduced.”
Anaphylaxis itself is a frightening ordeal: symptoms typically begin within minutes of exposure and can include swelling of the throat and tongue, difficulty breathing, and fainting. The rapid onset and severity make quick identification of allergens—and clear labelling—a matter of life and death.
With allergies becoming more common and food manufacturing ever more complex, the call to revisit and expand the list of mandatory food allergens is growing louder. Whether regulators in the UK, EU, and beyond will heed the advice of scientists and advocacy groups remains to be seen. But for millions living with food allergies, clearer labelling and greater transparency could make all the difference the next time they reach for a snack.
