Eggs on the menu: where they hide and how to label them

What it covers

Point 3 of Annex II of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 covers “Eggs and products thereof”, with no exceptions. The FSA’s technical guidance makes clear this means eggs from all birds, not just hens.

That includes whole egg, yolk and white on their own, pasteurised liquid egg, dried egg and the derivatives you will see on labels: albumin, egg lysozyme, egg powder. Raw, set or baked makes no difference: if the dish contains egg, you declare it.

Where it hides, by what it does in the recipe

The most useful way to review your dishes is to ask what job the egg is doing in each one.

Binding and emulsifying

• Mayonnaise and everything made with it: coleslaw, potato salad, Marie Rose and tartare sauce, sandwiches and burgers.
• Aioli made with egg or with a mayonnaise base.
• Caesar dressing, hollandaise and bearnaise.
• Carbonara made the Italian way, bound with yolk.

Batter and breadcrumbs

• Egg wash before the crumbs: breaded chicken, schnitzel, Scotch eggs, fishcakes.
• Yorkshire puddings, pancakes and some fish batters.

Giving body to a mixture

• Homemade burgers, meatballs, terrines and fishcakes.
• Quiche and savoury tarts.
• Fresh egg pasta, crêpes, waffles and sponges.

Glazing

• Pies, sausage rolls, pasties, brioche and pastries. The brush of beaten egg is easy to forget when you write up the dish.

Desserts

• Custard, crème caramel, meringues, pavlova and Eton mess, lemon curd, tiramisu, mousses, bread and butter pudding, macarons and many custard-based ice creams.

Clarifying and foaming

• Consommé clarified with egg white.
• Sours made with egg white.
• Some wines fined with egg protein, which declare it on the label.

Bought-in products worth checking

Frozen breaded products, dried egg pasta, mayonnaise and dressings, brioche buns, seafood sticks (many contain egg white), some vegetarian meat substitutes that use egg white as a binder, and certain hard cheeses. Grana Padano, for example, contains egg lysozyme as a preservative and says so on the label. Grate it over pasta or a salad and the dish contains egg.

Cross-contamination

• The bowl of egg wash used to coat everything. If you make an egg-free version, do it first with clean containers.
• The griddle where you cook fried eggs, scrambled eggs and omelettes.
• The fryer, where batter crumbs build up.
• Brushes, whisks and mixers that move between preparations.

If one of these contacts cannot be avoided, mark that specific dish “may contain egg”.

Common mistakes

• Confusing roe with egg. Roe is fish: see the fish allergen page.
• Forgetting the sauces on the side: the mayo in the sandwich, the aioli with the chips, the tartare sauce with the fish.
• Assuming a vegan version fixes it. Many vegan mayonnaises are made with soya milk, which is another allergen: soya.
• Changing brand of mayonnaise or batter mix without checking the new label.

If you offer egg-free alternatives

Some adaptations are simple and let you serve more guests without complicating the kitchen:

• Batter with flour only, or a tempura of flour and sparkling water. Check that a bought mix has no dried egg.
• Serve chips or fish with an egg-free sauce: a vinaigrette, a chimichurri or a traditional garlic-and-oil allioli.
• Glaze pastry with oil instead of egg wash.
• Keep at least one egg-free dessert, such as prepared fruit or a sorbet whose label confirms it.

Before you advertise an alternative, make sure you can prepare it without contact with the rest: clean bowl, whisk and oil. And check the new version does not bring in other allergens.

In the US

Eggs are one of the FDA’s nine major food allergens. Since its January 2025 guidance, the FDA counts eggs from chickens, ducks, geese, quail and other fowl, and expects labels to name the bird when it is not a chicken, such as “duck eggs”.

How to mark it on your menu

Egg is number 3 in Annex II. Mark it on the dish and also on the sauces and sides that come with it. If a dish can be made without egg (no mayo, no batter), say so in the description or let the server explain, with the written information to hand.

When you build your menu in MenuDesign, egg is marked dish by dish and appears as its icon, the number 3 or its name; the same data feeds the key and the allergen matrix. If you have not yet decided between icons and numbers, the guide on how to add allergens to your menu compares the options.