Allergen Detection and Contains Statement

Every ingredient you add to your recipe is automatically scanned for the nine major food allergens defined by FDA: Milk, Eggs, Fish, Crustacean Shellfish, Tree Nuts, Peanuts, Wheat, Soybeans, and Sesame (added January 1, 2023 via the FASTER Act).

The scan checks not just the ingredient itself but also its sub-ingredients. For example, chocolate chips contain soy lecithin — so adding chocolate chips to your recipe will flag Soy as a present allergen even though you did not add soy directly.

Detected allergens are highlighted in your ingredient list with the specific allergen(s) noted. When you modify your recipe — adding or removing ingredients — the allergen status updates immediately and prominently flags any newly introduced allergens.

ServingCalc generates a formatted Contains statement per FDA requirements. The statement lists all detected allergens in a standardized format: Contains: Milk, Wheat, Soy.

For tree nuts, fish, and crustacean shellfish, the specific species is included: Contains: Milk, Tree Nuts (Almonds, Pecans), Wheat. This specificity is required by FDA — you cannot simply declare Tree Nuts without naming the species.

The Contains statement updates automatically as you modify your recipe. If you swap almond flour for oat flour, the Tree Nuts (Almonds) allergen is removed and the Contains statement regenerates.

ServingCalc detects allergens from your recipe ingredients. It does not assess cross-contact risk from your manufacturing environment. May contain statements like May contain traces of peanuts are voluntary advisory statements based on facility-level risk assessment, not recipe analysis.

Similarly, allergen-free claims like Gluten-Free require testing and compliance with specific FDA thresholds (less than 20 ppm for gluten). ServingCalc can tell you whether your recipe ingredients contain wheat (a major allergen), but cannot certify your product as gluten-free — that requires laboratory testing of the finished product.