Allergen Labels on a Restaurant Menu in the US
TL;DRAllergen labels on a US restaurant menu are not one federal form. Rules for packaged food are federal. A menu a guest reads at the table is mostly a matter of state and city rules, plus the practical need to answer a guest before they order. This page stays inside what we can say accurately, and it is not legal advice. Check the current rule with your local health authority.
The short version: there is no federal rule that requires allergen labels on restaurant menus. Some states require a specific notice. The clearest habit, whether or not your state requires the notice, is to mark allergens on each dish and to invite guests to tell the staff. The wider note, including EU and UK rules and the sources, is allergen labels on a menu.
What federal rules cover
Federal allergen labelling applies to packaged food. Restaurant menus are not that package. Do not copy a packaged-food label layout onto a dinner menu and assume the federal rule is met, or that it even applied.
The United States names nine major food allergens. Sesame is the most recent addition. The nine are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. A digital menu can show a mark for the allergens the product knows: milk, wheat, egg, fish, sulphites, nuts, soy, sesame, crustaceans, peanuts, celery, mustard, lupin and molluscs. Wheat is wheat. If the dish has rye, barley or oats, name the cereal in the description. Sulphites, celery, mustard, lupin and molluscs are on the list because European rules name them. A US guest still needs them when they are in the dish.
Notices some states require
Massachusetts requires menus to carry this notice: “Before placing your order, please inform your server if a person in your party has a food allergy.” Rhode Island has a similar requirement. If your state names exact words, use those words. A paraphrase is not the notice.
A general “may contain” line does not replace saying which allergens are in a dish. Use it only for a cross-contact risk you cannot remove, and say what the risk is. Shared fryers and shared boards belong in the note your staff can read, not only in a footer nobody reaches.
How to write it on the menu
Put the marks on the dish, not only in a chart at the back. A guest is deciding about the dish in front of them.
Use the same words or symbols on every menu the restaurant serves, and print a key. On paper, the key can sit with the allergen note you turn on in the print file. On the phone, the marks sit under the dish.
Keep a written list for the kitchen and the floor: what is in each dish, including the sauce and the garnish, and which dishes share a fryer or a board. Update it when a recipe changes or a supplier substitutes an ingredient. A menu that lists last month's recipe is worse than a menu that tells the guest to ask.
Where the law requires a specific sentence, put that sentence on the menu in those words. DigitalMenuKit can carry a note on the printed menu asking guests to tell staff about allergies. You still have to supply the ingredients. The software does not know your recipes.
On the QR menu and on paper
Mark the allergens on the dish in the editor. Guests see them on the menu they open from the QR code, in the languages you have published. Dietary tags the product knows are vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and spicy. Gluten-free is a tag, not a promise about a shared fryer. Say the fryer in the description if it matters.
The paper menu can show the same dishes because it is exported from the same menu. Turn the allergen note on when you want it on the sheet, and turn it off when you do not. Every fixed sentence on the paper comes from the menu's own language, not from the buttons in the editor.
When a supplier changes an ingredient, change the mark and publish. The phone menu updates then. Download a new PDF if the paper is still in the room. The older guide covers Europe and the UK as well, with the sources named there: what to write about allergens.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to list all nine allergens on every menu?
Federal packaged-food rules are not a restaurant menu rule. Some states require a notice telling guests to inform the server. Marking the allergens that are actually in each dish is the clearest practice. Confirm the local rule.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a practical summary of the points already stated on our allergen guide. Your health authority is the source for what your restaurant must do.
Will the software detect allergens in a recipe?
No. You set the marks. An import will not invent ingredients you did not write.
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